Quartararo pole: "Starting to be really fast", Alex Marquez “angry”, Bagnaia “close the gap to Alex”

Fabio Quartararo underlined his and Yamaha’s red-hot time attack form with a third MotoGP pole in a row at a chilly Silverstone.

“On one lap we are starting to be really, really fast,” said the Frenchman. “The confidence I have with the bike is big, but we know when we make more laps in a row, especially here where the tyre is a bit critical [it’s not so easy].

“But I'm feeling good. We're making good steps and of course the goal is to get closer and closer in the races.”

Quartararo, on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix, was pushed down to fourth last time in his home Le Mans Sprint before a crash in the wet race.

While Quartararo is becoming a familiar face on pole, title leader Marc Marquez was bumped off the front row for the first time this year.

Instead, it was younger brother Alex Marquez - who earlier triggered red flags after a big highside in final practice - who got closest to Quartararo (+0.309s).

“Yeah, for sure we are there. But I'm quite angry with myself,” Alex said after qualifying.

“I did that mistake this morning, that highside trying to overtake Somkiat [Chantra]. That kind of mistake can cost us a lot in the championship, so we need to control more the risk in that moment of the weekend.

“But apart from that I was able to make a good lap time. Also, I think we are quite good on rhythm.”

The Gresini rider, who excels around Silverstone’s fast right handers, has been tipped as the rider to beat by both Marc and factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.

However, Alex said he has less experience on the soft front, which now looks to be the favoured Sprint tyre in the cool temperatures.

“I think these guys are a little bit more ready than us for the Sprint because they work a little bit better than us yesterday with the soft tyre. I focused more with the medium. So we'll see how it will be, but I feel ready for everything,” he said.

Francesco Bagnaia, meanwhile, shot down any suggestion that out-qualifying Marc was a sign that he had finally found front-end confidence with the GP25.

“This morning was quite difficult with our bike, the feeling is still not there and it's difficult in these conditions,” said the Italian.

“But a front row is always a good result. So I’m happy to start from the front row in both races, now we’ll try to take another step for this afternoon to see if we can close the gap to Alex.”

Marc, winner of all six Sprint races so far this season, starts this afternoon’s race with a 22-point lead over Alex.