Silverstone moves MotoGP start time after wet chaos

Sunday's British MotoGP start time has been moved from 1:00pm to 11:30am after wet weather chaos during final practice.

“This is a decision that was not taken lightly but the risk to the chances of not running a MotoGP race at all if we had stuck to the original schedule was too great," said Silverstone Managing Director Stuart Pringle.

“This was a difficult decision to make but, ultimately, there is nothing more important to all of us than rider safety. We hope MotoGP race fans who attended this weekend’s event, understand the difficult decision forced upon race organisers Dorna and Silverstone.”

Already under-fire for bumps in the dry, the new Silverstone surface got its first wet test on Saturday. Although intermittent light showers were handled without issue, a downpour during FP4 resulted in a spate of accidents at the end of the Hangar Straight.

Alex Rins, Tito Rabat and Franco Morbidelli all fell in quick succession - Morbidelli's bike striking Rabat in the gravel trap, leaving the Avintia rider with multiple leg fractures.

Other riders ran off at the same corner due to the same aquaplaning issue. Most riders pointed the finger at poor drainage, which some felt was exacerbated by water sitting between the bumps - causing the session to be red-flagged.

The rain then lifted and qualifying went ahead without further issue.

But with riders warning it would not be possible to race in the FP4 conditions, and even heavier rain forecast around 1pm on Sunday, organisers have decided to try and avoid the worst of the weather with an early race start. The Moto3 race will be at 1pm and Moto2 race at 2:30pm. MotoGP warm-up will also be moved to the start of the Sunday schedule, at 9am.

The problem is that forecasts still predict a 60% threat of rain from 10am onwards...

"I don't like to say this, because I love racing. But if the conditions are like in FP4, we cannot race. And tomorrow the forecast is much more water," said reigning world champion and current title leader Marc Marquez, speaking before the earlier start time was confirmed.

"We cannot race because I go out of the box in FP4 and luckily I close the gas in the middle of the [Hangar]straight because there was so much water.

"I arrived [at Turn 7] very slow and the aquaplaning was amazing. And the rain was only on those three corners, the rest of the circuit was just like some spray.

"First of all we need to see the conditions tomorrow and then Race Direction will evaluate. But if it's like FP4 as we saw it becomes very, very dangerous. It looks impossible to have a dry race, but if it's wet we hope to have a minimum amount of water.

"The problem is the bumps. The water is inside the bumps and then you have aquaplaning where you don’t expect. Because it's not that you have the same amount of water everywhere. You arrive and then where the bumps are you have much more water."

Assuming the race does go ahead, and by some miracle it is dry, Marquez believes Maverick Vinales is the favourite to claim what would be Yamaha's first win in over a year. 

"In dry conditions it's Maverick fastest, Dovi maybe second, very close to Maverick. And then I'm very close to Dovi. Also Cal is riding really good here. So it's us four guys that are one step in front.

"The wet will be a gamble, we don't know because this afternoon only three-four corners were really wet. But Ducati are always very strong in the wet."

Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco qualified on the front row during the wet-dry qualifying session. Marquez will start from fifth.