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Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now?

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Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now? | Top Gear

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Look out F1, the bikes are coming: last weekend’s action marks 12 different winners in the last 12 years

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Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Look out F1, the bikes are coming: last weekend’s action marks 12 different winners in the last 12 years

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Look out F1, the bikes are coming: last weekend’s action marks 12 different winners in the last 12 years

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Silverstone MotoGP: is this the most watchable motorsport on the planet right now?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Look out F1, the bikes are coming: last weekend’s action marks 12 different winners in the last 12 years

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This year’s MotoGP race at Silverstone was fought on the absolute ragged edge. You didn’t need a graphical overlay full of battery deployment meters to see it, because the way Marco Bezzecchi walked onto the podium – very slowly, utterly depleted, helped by an Aprilia team member under each arm – amply demonstrated it instead.

You could see it in Álex Márquez’s adventures into the Abbey run-off, and in the sparks flying off Ai Ogura and Jorge Martín’s bikes as they dived into turn one on the opening lap. And the seven DNFs chalked up by the time Raúl Fernández took the victory, marking 12 different British grand prix winners in 12 years. With F1’s current rules and regs drawing ire and its racing having been likened to Mario Kart by a certain Charles Leclerc, it’s enough to make you think – hang on, are the bikes winning?

Does that mean you can actually tell what’s going on?

Crucially, yes. You wouldn’t have thought that would become a USP in motor racing, but while F1 struggles to make its strategic energy deployment understandable to casual fans, MotoGP is a simpler proposition.

Yes, they’re managing their tyres to an extent. But in this sport that means being a tad gentler on the throttle while you’re hanging off the bike giving the apex a spring clean with your elbow. It doesn’t mean coming off the gas halfway down the straight.

These bikes are twice as loud as an F1 car, and they’re twitchy and muscular. They take corners like they’re extremely annoyed to have a rider straddling them. You don’t need a masters in aerodynamics or a busy graphical overlay to enjoy modern MotoGP, because the spectacle is self-explanatory.

It was a good race, then?

Two good races and one absolute barnstormer, actually, but let’s start with the premier class. Fernández took a commanding victory in the end, crossing the line two and a half seconds ahead of Martín. But behind him there was chaos.

With Martín and Ogura’s ride height devices failing to disengage into turn one at the race start, the qualifying order became jumbled as the Aprilia pair went offline with sparks flying and the likes of Marc Márquez and Bezzecchi, the latter fresh from surgery to his broken collarbone, took the initiative.

But the factory Ducatis weren’t kind to their rear tyres this weekend and Marc soon found himself outpaced by his brother, then 2027 teammate Pedro Acosta’s KTM, and then Fabio Di Giannantonio’s fluro VR46 Ducati. Marc’s P7 result hasn’t derailed his championship bid, but it does raise some polite questions about it.

The Aprilias, meanwhile, were rampant. Bezzecchi somehow found the reserves to keep Álex at bay in the closing laps and hold onto third despite his recent surgery, keeping his own title fight alive, while Martín’s P2 sees him stretch out his championship lead to 31 points.

Is that a surprise result?

Within the context of this season, it’s no shock to see the Aprilias lock out the podium. But taking a step back, that podium is remarkable for many reasons.

Fernández’s Trackhouse MotoGP team is three years old, for example. Seeing them become regular winners would be like Haas suddenly romping to victories in 2019.

For Martín’s part, this is a championship fight that nobody expected. Not because he doesn’t have the ability – he’s the 2024 world champion, after all – but because he and Aprilia seemed to be over before they started. A testing crash before the 2025 season saw Martín sit out several races injured, and in that time the rumour mill began chattering about him triggering an early exit clause on his contract. He’s eventually stayed put for his two-year deal, but signed with the Yamaha factory team for 2027. If he wins this championship, that’ll be twice he’s left a team immediately after winning the title.

Then there’s Bez. If a mere human breaks their collarbone, they lie very still in bed for a few weeks and watch their entire Netflix watchlist. The 27-year-old Italian, however, was racing again a month after his surgery, and on the podium in both sprint and grand prix races. That’s why they say he’s simply the Bez.

Did you say the support races were decent?

The Moto 3 and Moto 2 categories are more than a support act in this paddock, because they’re the most common route young riders take up onto the big bikes. That abundance of talent and do-or-die mindset, plus homologated bikes means a lot of fist-in-mouth, he’s never going to get that stopped – oh, he has racing.

The Moto 2 race, in particular, was an absolute classic. 2022 Moto 3 champ Izan Guevara led from pole for half the race before a five-way brawl broke out in the closing laps for the podium positions. It appeared championship leader Manu González had the edge… until he got his maths wrong, celebrated across the line a lap early, and took damage from Dani Holgado behind which sent him plummeting down the order.

On the actual final lap, OnlyFans American Racing Team’s Filip Salač took his maiden victory, fending off Iván Ortolá and podium debutant Álex Escrig.

Moto 3 had significant British interest thanks to Scott Ogden’s podium, and an in-form Eddie O’Shea regularly making the top 10 of each timing session.

The fairytale home victory wasn’t to be for Ogden, who highsided out of Woodcote while tussling in the leading back midway through the race, but Eddie’s P8 finish shows once again he’s got mega potential. After the traditional five-lap ruckus to close the race, David Almansa took the win from Alvaro Carpe in P2 and Valentin Perrone in P3.

When will we see the next British talent get to MotoGP?

Firstly, Cal Crutchlow’s stand-in stint for the injured Johann Zarco has been absolutely heroic, so put some respect on his name when you ask that question, thank you very much.

However at age 40, it’s a stretch to call Cal a young hotshot. To find the next long-term prospects, you’ve got to look at the current Moto 3 and Red Bull Rookies crop. TNT Sports presenter and former MotoGP rider Michael Laverty (below) is doing his bit to promote British talent with the GRYD Racing team he operates with David Eltherington, competing in seven categories including Moto 3 where the aforementioned Ogden and O’Shea are riding.

Meanwhile in the Rookies, Sullivan Mounsey and Ethan Sparks are showing serious potential. Realistically, it’ll be years before we see any of these riders make it to the premier class, but the plans are afoot.

Come on, though – can it really compete with F1?

Alright, F1 has the glamour. It has the Netflix show, the well-known characters, the celebs on the pit walks, and the luxury positioning. Regardless of the current regs, it’s always a spectacle. And let’s face it, we’re all in too deep to ever truly turn our backs on it.

On the other hand, Kimi Antonelli doesn’t marshal his Mercedes round the track by hanging out of the cockpit and scraping his extremities along the curbs, and since they don’t have race radio, the MotoGP grid don’t spend their laps trying to lawyer their way to more favourable positions of dobbing in rivals for track limits. We think that makes for a pretty close fight in the coming seasons.

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This year’s MotoGP race at Silverstone was fought on the absolute ragged edge. You didn’t need a graphical overlay full of battery deployment meters to see it, because the way Marco Bezzecchi walked onto the podium – very slowly, utterly depleted, helped by an Aprilia team member under each arm – amply demonstrated it instead.

You could see it in Álex Márquez’s adventures into the Abbey run-off, and in the sparks flying off Ai Ogura and Jorge Martín’s bikes as they dived into turn one on the opening lap. And the seven DNFs chalked up by the time Raúl Fernández took the victory, marking 12 different British grand prix winners in 12 years. With F1’s current rules and regs drawing ire and its racing having been likened to Mario Kart by a certain Charles Leclerc, it’s enough to make you think – hang on, are the bikes winning?

Does that mean you can actually tell what’s going on?

Crucially, yes. You wouldn’t have thought that would become a USP in motor racing, but while F1 struggles to make its strategic energy deployment understandable to casual fans, MotoGP is a simpler proposition.

Yes, they’re managing their tyres to an extent. But in this sport that means being a tad gentler on the throttle while you’re hanging off the bike giving the apex a spring clean with your elbow. It doesn’t mean coming off the gas halfway down the straight.

These bikes are twice as loud as an F1 car, and they’re twitchy and muscular. They take corners like they’re extremely annoyed to have a rider straddling them. You don’t need a masters in aerodynamics or a busy graphical overlay to enjoy modern MotoGP, because the spectacle is self-explanatory.

It was a good race, then?

Two good races and one absolute barnstormer, actually, but let’s start with the premier class. Fernández took a commanding victory in the end, crossing the line two and a half seconds ahead of Martín. But behind him there was chaos.

With Martín and Ogura’s ride height devices failing to disengage into turn one at the race start, the qualifying order became jumbled as the Aprilia pair went offline with sparks flying and the likes of Marc Márquez and Bezzecchi, the latter fresh from surgery to his broken collarbone, took the initiative.

But the factory Ducatis weren’t kind to their rear tyres this weekend and Marc soon found himself outpaced by his brother, then 2027 teammate Pedro Acosta’s KTM, and then Fabio Di Giannantonio’s fluro VR46 Ducati. Marc’s P7 result hasn’t derailed his championship bid, but it does raise some polite questions about it.

The Aprilias, meanwhile, were rampant. Bezzecchi somehow found the reserves to keep Álex at bay in the closing laps and hold onto third despite his recent surgery, keeping his own title fight alive, while Martín’s P2 sees him stretch out his championship lead to 31 points.

Is that a surprise result?

Within the context of this season, it’s no shock to see the Aprilias lock out the podium. But taking a step back, that podium is remarkable for many reasons.

Fernández’s Trackhouse MotoGP team is three years old, for example. Seeing them become regular winners would be like Haas suddenly romping to victories in 2019.

For Martín’s part, this is a championship fight that nobody expected. Not because he doesn’t have the ability – he’s the 2024 world champion, after all – but because he and Aprilia seemed to be over before they started. A testing crash before the 2025 season saw Martín sit out several races injured, and in that time the rumour mill began chattering about him triggering an early exit clause on his contract. He’s eventually stayed put for his two-year deal, but signed with the Yamaha factory team for 2027. If he wins this championship, that’ll be twice he’s left a team immediately after winning the title.

Then there’s Bez. If a mere human breaks their collarbone, they lie very still in bed for a few weeks and watch their entire Netflix watchlist. The 27-year-old Italian, however, was racing again a month after his surgery, and on the podium in both sprint and grand prix races. That’s why they say he’s simply the Bez.

Did you say the support races were decent?

The Moto 3 and Moto 2 categories are more than a support act in this paddock, because they’re the most common route young riders take up onto the big bikes. That abundance of talent and do-or-die mindset, plus homologated bikes means a lot of fist-in-mouth, he’s never going to get that stopped – oh, he has racing.

The Moto 2 race, in particular, was an absolute classic. 2022 Moto 3 champ Izan Guevara led from pole for half the race before a five-way brawl broke out in the closing laps for the podium positions. It appeared championship leader Manu González had the edge… until he got his maths wrong, celebrated across the line a lap early, and took damage from Dani Holgado behind which sent him plummeting down the order.

On the actual final lap, OnlyFans American Racing Team’s Filip Salač took his maiden victory, fending off Iván Ortolá and podium debutant Álex Escrig.

Moto 3 had significant British interest thanks to Scott Ogden’s podium, and an in-form Eddie O’Shea regularly making the top 10 of each timing session.

The fairytale home victory wasn’t to be for Ogden, who highsided out of Woodcote while tussling in the leading back midway through the race, but Eddie’s P8 finish shows once again he’s got mega potential. After the traditional five-lap ruckus to close the race, David Almansa took the win from Alvaro Carpe in P2 and Valentin Perrone in P3.

When will we see the next British talent get to MotoGP?

Firstly, Cal Crutchlow’s stand-in stint for the injured Johann Zarco has been absolutely heroic, so put some respect on his name when you ask that question, thank you very much.

However at age 40, it’s a stretch to call Cal a young hotshot. To find the next long-term prospects, you’ve got to look at the current Moto 3 and Red Bull Rookies crop. TNT Sports presenter and former MotoGP rider Michael Laverty (below) is doing his bit to promote British talent with the GRYD Racing team he operates with David Eltherington, competing in seven categories including Moto 3 where the aforementioned Ogden and O’Shea are riding.

Meanwhile in the Rookies, Sullivan Mounsey and Ethan Sparks are showing serious potential. Realistically, it’ll be years before we see any of these riders make it to the premier class, but the plans are afoot.

Come on, though – can it really compete with F1?

Alright, F1 has the glamour. It has the Netflix show, the well-known characters, the celebs on the pit walks, and the luxury positioning. Regardless of the current regs, it’s always a spectacle. And let’s face it, we’re all in too deep to ever truly turn our backs on it.

On the other hand, Kimi Antonelli doesn’t marshal his Mercedes round the track by hanging out of the cockpit and scraping his extremities along the curbs, and since they don’t have race radio, the MotoGP grid don’t spend their laps trying to lawyer their way to more favourable positions of dobbing in rivals for track limits. We think that makes for a pretty close fight in the coming seasons.

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Look out F1, the bikes are coming: last weekend’s action marks 12 different winners in the last 12 years