How the British MotoGP was won by being “angry” before the race

Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez says he was able to dominate the MotoGP British Grand Prix because he discovered the limit of the medium rear by being “angry with myself”.

The Spaniard qualified second on the grid at Silverstone, but crashed out of the sprint in the early stages while in contention for the podium.

Raul Fernandez says he was “angry” with himself coming into Sunday, which then meant he pushed his medium rear tyre harder than necessary during the morning warm-up session.

Fernandez quickly broke away from the field after taking the lead on the opening lap and cruised to a first victory of the season.

“The race was better than what we expected, because from the first corner I was first and I started to manage,” he said.

“It’s true that when I saw Jorge [Martin] catch me by three or four tenths, I said, ‘OK, I need to push a little bit ’, and I got the gap again.

“It means that we made a really good job during the race. I think it was a perfect race.

“I think the warm-up helped me to understand where the limit of the rear tyre was.

“This morning, I was quite angry with myself, and I pushed maybe too much.

“And there, I understood that the limit of the tyre was trying to make 1m58.4s, 1m58.5s.

“And straight away, I tried to be in 1m59s low. So, in the morning I learned where the limit of the rear tyre was.

“For that, I didn’t care about the performance of the rear tyre at the end of the race.”

Fernandez, who is now a double MotoGP race winner and the 12th at Silverstone in as many British Grands Prix, added: “I think the race today was a mentality race.

“It was difficult to manage, because it was not just the tyre but also the fuel, because in my case I had to manage it from the first lap.

“Yeah, I am really happy. I don’t really know what I can say. Thanks to my team.”

“We got a good deal with Trackhouse”

Fernandez’s victory comes in the wake of signing a new two-year deal with Trackhouse.

“I’m really happy because in some races I was quite frustrated [not] to know about my situation.

“Now, I think we got a good deal with Trackhouse after coming here in ’24 with too many problems; the bike was not super competitive, and we made a really nice job together [since then].

“I think the best thing for us was to stay here and not have too many changes, because next year almost everything will be new.

“So, of course, I’m very happy. But I’m more happy to get my second MotoGP victory.”