‘Consequence of a bad start’ - Why Aprilia was denied a 1-2-3-4 in Silverstone sprint

Trackhouse Aprilia MotoGP rider Raul Fernandez says his crash out of the British Grand Prix sprint was “100% my mistake”, but was also “a consequence of a bad start”.

The Spaniard came close to taking a maiden MotoGP pole on Saturday at Silverstone, but narrowly missed out to Aprilia counterpart Jorge Martin.

Expected to be a contender for the win, Raul Fernandez suffered a bad start that dropped him to sixth after the opening corners and forced him into a recovery ride.

But he crashed on the fourth lap going into the Loop section of the circuit as he tried to set up a move on Marco Bezzecchi.

“It was quite disastrous…”

Fernandez took the blame for the crash, but says it came after a clutch issue led to his poor launch from second on the grid.

“Well, the crash was 100% my mistake,” he told the media, including Crash, on Saturday evening.

“I was behind Marco, and when I was riding I saw that on the left corner he had some problems. He was not like on the right one.

“So I decided to prepare a little bit the Turn 5. So in the Turn 4 I opened more the line and I was a little bit more aggressive on the entry, and I crashed.

“I will take 100% the mistake because it was my fault. But I think the situation that I had was the consequence of a really bad start.

“So for me, we need to keep calm. For sure, right now my face is not really nice because I am quite angry with myself.

“But we need to understand what's happening on the start because for some reason, with the clutch, I don't really feel well since this morning.

“So we need to understand why we were super slow, especially on the sprint, because our numbers were quite better, and on the sprint it was quite disastrous.

“So we need to understand because I feel that I had some vibrations on the moment that I released the clutch, and that for me was the key of the sprint.

“After that, I will take my responsibility. I know that I made a mistake.

“I try to come back because I know that my pace here is quite good. The bike is working well, as you see today, but nothing to say. So, sorry to the team and for tomorrow, another chance.”

Fernandez’s crash likely denied Aprilia a 1-2-3-4 in the sprint, with the brand locking out the podium in a dominant display.

Team-mate Ai Ogura was second at the chequered flag, though was surprised by how much his soft rear tyre grained.

“I think we all knew that soft rear is going to drop, but not that much,” the Japanese rider said.

“That was something unexpected, but Jorge managed the tyre really well.

“I dropped more than him, and there's no way that I can do anything with him today. But anyway, second is good, so I'm happy.”