Marc Marquez facing Qatar-level challenge in British MotoGP

Most of the British media spent much of Thursday apologising to the MotoGP grid for the cold weather that greeted them as they arrived at Silverstone. But something resembling summer graced the Silverstone circuit on Friday for the opening day of practice for the 2025 British Grand Prix.

A quick glance at the timesheets shows business as usual for MotoGP in 2025. One Marquez brother topped a session, and so did the other. Alex Marquez came out swinging on Friday with a new lap record of 1m57.295s to narrowly lead the way in Practice in the afternoon.

Elder brother Marc Marquez, and the championship leader by 22 points, ended the day fourth overall. But his Friday was far from straightforward. A sensor issued denied him the chance to do a practice start at the end of FP1.

Then he crashed in the afternoon session. It was only a small tipoff and didn’t do much to dent his confidence. But, having looked dialled in during FP1, it was not the perfect start to the weekend he needed if he has any aspirations of ending his drought at Silverstone dating back to 2014.

Of all the race weekends so far, this appears like it will be the hardest for Marc Marquez. The competition, at least on time attack, is tight. Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha remains an ever-present pole threat, while Aprilia enjoyed a positive day with Marco Bezzecchi in fifth spot at the end of Practice.

Likening this circuit to Qatar, where its layout really doesn’t play into his left-hander strengths, Marquez admits he is struggling more than he did at Lusail to be confidently fast through the right-handers. This opens the door for Alex Marquez to walk through, who was “incredibly fast” through the Woodcote right-hander on Friday.

But, if Silverstone is following a similar pattern to Qatar, then it is worth remembering that Marc Marquez took pole, won the sprint and was victorious in the grand prix. So, while the others have a chance to get ahead of him, he is also more than equipped to rise above.

Marc Marquez still confident of used tyre form to lift him past rivals

Much of what we saw on Friday at Silverstone could well become redundant as soon as Saturday, as uncertain weather forecasts loom large over the final two days of the British Grand Prix.

Should it remain dry, Marc Marquez’s confidence in his used tyre pace is justified based on long run analysis from the hour-long Practice on Friday afternoon.

Marc Marquez completed 11 laps on a medium rear tyre, which was last year’s grand prix option, and averaged out at 1m58.903s based on a three-lap representative run. His advantage over the filed was not much, with VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio - much happier with his GP25 so far this weekend - close behind on a 1m58.944s over a similar run.

And that is despite “struggling” through Silverstone’s right-hand corners. But if this is to be an advantage for his rivals to exploit, they will have to act soon as he at least knows why he isn’t where he should be even if he and Ducati are yet to find a fix.

“Today here I’m struggling,’ he said of right-hand corners. “I’m struggling more than in Qatar. We are trying to understand why… we understand why but are trying to understand how to fix. I will work on my riding style, the mechanics will also work to help me. But I’m losing less than in the past, so for this reason I am losing less to the front guys.”

Marquez has been denied pole in the last two grands prix by Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who admits needs more to improve his race pace, and is sounding like he is resigned to potentially another Yamaha Q2-topping performance.

“I think so,” he replied when asked if he would be better on used rubber than on new tyres in time attack trim, “especially because Yamahas have a lot of corner speed and they can take a lot of profit of the new tyres.”

Alex Marquez has been highlighted again as the main threat by his older brother, though he believes that he needs to find more to improve the set-up despite making progress between FP1 and Practice.

Winner of the wet sprint at Silverstone in 2023, Alex Marquez has form at the British venue. But at this stage, the rest still need a step to properly pressure Marc Marquez.

Pecco Bagnaia breakthrough salvages tough day

Pecco Bagnaia was at serious risk of dropping into Q1 as the later stages of Practice wore on. He managed to get a lap in good enough for seventh overall, albeit 0.408 seconds adrift of Alex Marquez at the top of the timesheets.

Expecting to be greeted by an under pressure double world champion with a face of thunder, Bagnaia was much bouncier than expected. That lap that got him up to seventh and stopped his weekend from going down the toilet came as Ducati finally found something with the GP25 to improve his front end feeling.

“It’s a small detail which made a little difference,” he said. “It gave me a little more confidence.” What it was he changed on his bike, he wouldn’t say, but suggested it was a mechanical tweak rather than from the electronics.

Of all the circuits to not have front end confidence, Silverstone is one of the worst. To find a set-up breakthrough on the same circuit can only be a very positive sign for Bagnaia’s future for much the same reason.

Where he can get to as the weekend goes on remains to be seen. His race running was very up and down, with his medium average pace working out at 1m59.466s but with only two representative laps to use as a good sample.

Expecting a step to fighting for victory on Sunday does seem like a stretch, given Bagnaia admits he is still having to adapt his riding style to something unnatural to him - and to something that Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez isn’t needing to do.

“It’s strange because I cannot feel the front. We need to enter the corner fast but we cannot do the same as last year with the brake,” he explained. “We need to release it much before. It is completely different to my riding style. I always enter with more lean angle and brake. Now, I cannot. It’s not what has happened to Marc.”

A well-time boost of hope for an under fire Aprilia

Understandably, coming into this weekend’s British Grand Prix, headlines have been dominated by the Jorge Martin/Aprilia split reports. Aprilia denied negotiations were being held between both parties over terminating the deal early through a performance clause.

Whatever is happening behind the scenes, it’s hard to imagine that isn’t impacting the work going on in the garages.

Silverstone has been a happy hunting ground for Aprilia. It scored its first MotoGP podium in the modern era at the British GP in 2021, while Aleix Espargaro beat Bagnaia to victory in a tense 2023 grand prix.

Marco Bezzecchi gave Aprilia something to smile about, though, as he ended Friday fifth overall and with decent race pace on the soft rear that should make him a dark horse threat in the 10-lap sprint on Saturday.

The Italian, who was on pole at Silverstone in 2023, explained after Friday’s running that the flowing nature of the circuit is masking the stability problems the RS-GP has under hard braking. Fundamentally, the upturn in form he showed hasn’t really come from any big changes to the bike. So, there is still work to do for Aprilia to get to where it wants to be.

But what isn’t up for debate, at least for Bezzecchi, is that the noise surrounding the team over the Martin situation hasn’t distracted him. If anything, it seems to have energised his own relationship with the Italian manufacturer.

“At the end I don’t focus on any bullshit that is not regarding me,” Bezzecchi said when crash.net asked him if the Martin situation has been a distraction for the team. “Fortunately, at the end I feel the same like yesterday or like one month ago or two months ago. So, for me, of course it’s positive to have a good day, but my relationship with Aprilia is fantastic and I’m very proud to ride for them, and I’m very happy to have their support on my shoulders. For me, [nothing] changed – it’s always the same.”

Aprilia didn’t come through Friday totally without incident, however, as Ai Ogura’s continued participation is in some doubt. A heavy crash in FP1 for the Trackhouse rookie left him with a banged up knee that forced him to abandon Practice after just a lap…