Why is one grand prix more successful, better attended than another? That is a question which springs to mind heading to Silverstone after Le Mans. The French Grand Prix breaks attendance records pretty much year on year, despite the track layout being a bit too stop and go to make it really challenging. Silverstone struggles to get the crowds in that the British Grand Prix deserves. If Silverstone is lucky, they will get half the number of fans which packed out Le Mans. But last year it was closer to a third than a half.
There are a few obvious reasons: the Le Mans circuit is a 20 minute tram ride from the center of a history French city, while Silverstone is a former military airfield, and so just far away from everywhere to be convenient. Public transport options are complicated, parking is difficult, and as charming as Towcester may be, it is not quite on the scale of Le Mans. It lacks a medieval cathedral. Though it does have a racecourse…
It also helps that France has two riders in MotoGP, both former world champions, and both capable of getting on the podium. This year, the French fans were particularly spoiled, with Fabio Quartararo taking pole, and Johann Zarco taking an emotionally charged victory in front of a delirious crowd in the wet on Sunday. Jake Dixon will start as one of the favorites to win in Moto2 on Sunday, but Moto2 simply doesn’t have the pull of MotoGP.
It has the juice
It is a shame that crowds are sparse at Silverstone. The event itself is excellent, with a huge amount of entertainment, including live bands, at the track. The campsites are fun without turning into carnage, and there is always something to do. And the racing is often scintillating, so many races being decided on the last lap after fierce battles.
Silverstone’s biggest disadvantage is the legacy left by history. The track is a former WWII airfield, so it is built on top of a hillside, to allow bombers and reconnaissance aircraft to take off easily. So the track is mostly flat, barring a little light undulation. But elevation changes are measured in centimeters, rather than tens of meters.
While that doesn’t stop the layout from being challenging enough to produce highly entertaining racing, it does offer the fans very few perches from which to view the action. There are grandstands dotted around the track, but here another aspect works against Silverstone. It is a very long track, at 5.9km one of the longest and nearly 50% longer than Le Mans, for example. The grounds are huge making it difficult to walk all the way around. Even if Silverstone doubled the attendance, it still wouldn’t looked as packed as a smaller circuit.
Holding out for a hero
Again, this is a massive shame. The British Grand Prix is a historic event, going back to the start of the World Championship, and the United Kingdom has a long history of involvement in racing. In the early years, British riders dominated the championship, producing a host of legendary riders. From John Surtees to Mike Hailwood to Phil Read to Barry Sheene, and many in between. While British riders switched to World Superbikes in the 1990s and early 2000s, British riders still had a strong presence. Niall MacKenzie, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Bradley Smith, and the UK’s last MotoGP winner, Cal Crutchlow.
But British motorcycle racing finds itself in something of an interlude. BSB is enormously successful as a race series, but it has not produced riders capable of making an impact in either WorldSBK or MotoGP. Jake Dixon is successful in Moto2, but not sufficiently dominant to be able to lay claim to a berth in MotoGP. The British Talent Cup has not been going long enough to start producing talented riders in sufficient quantity to start making their way through the ranks. Scott Ogden and Eddie O’Shea show flashes of talent in Moto3, but are yet to consistently challenge at the front.
There is no obvious heir apparent to Cal Crutchlow. And that might be what is needed to bring in the crowds to Silverstone for MotoGP, just as it does for F1.
Whatever the drawbacks of the venue, the same cannot be said for the track. Silverstone is one of the great motorcycle racing tracks, something made all the more ironic by the fact the track is run by the British Racing Drivers Club, and is so fully focused on F1, sitting as it does in the middle of F1 valley.
Mix ‘n’ match
It is versatile too. The old layout, with the start along Woodcote straight, worked fractionally better for MotoGP, but the switch to having the start/finish between Club and Abbey, at the pedantically named International Pits Straight, in front of the impressive Silverstone Wing, has been great for racing too. The fact that five of the six manufacturers which have competed in MotoGP since its return to Silverstone in 2010 have won a grand prix here bears witness to just how good a track it is.
Over the line and into Turn 1, Abbey – like all great tracks, Silverstone has historic names for each corner, most taken from nearby villages and landmarks – a right hander that is relatively fast and open, before flicking the bike left through Farm then braking hard for the sharp right of Village, changing all the way back to second, while being wary of riders coming up the inside.
Village is the entry point for the infield section, where a dab of gas will propel you to the loop before you need to brake for the hairpin at The Loop. There are multiple lines out of Turn 4 and through Aintree, Turn 5, before heading down the Wellington Straight and one of the hardest braking points on the track. Hard left, and then immediately the long left of Luffield, and into one of the finest sections of race track on the calendar.
Up through the box as you are leaned hard right through Woodcote, then fire down toward Copse. Hard braking to scrub off a lot of the speed you gained, before tipping right into Copse, carrying as much speed as you dare. Up through the box again as hare down toward the Maggotts/Becketts complex.
Gentle left-right, then sharper left, and a longer right, and then tight left of Chapel, leading onto the Hangar Straight. Make a mistake here and you are lost until you exit Chapel, and can start to try to make up the ground you just gave up.
Hard out of Chapel and up through the box again, the speed building and clipping 340 km/h as you get ready for your last couple of chances to pass before the flag. Stowe, or Turn 15, is the hardest braking zone on the track, as you work to scrub off 200 km/h or so before the relatively quick right. It is an ideal passing place, but not your last gasp, but you have to make sure you don’t mess up completely and miss the corner.
If you’re still close out of Stowe, you can try your luck again at Vale, in the hard braking for Turn 16, or by cutting back underneath at Turn 17. If you’re ahead out of 17, you need to hold onto your advantage through Club, then get as much drive as you can for the short run to the line.
Although the track is not particularly tough on tires – Michelin describes the grip as ‘average’ and surface is not especially abrasive, the main stresses coming from a combination of high speeds and heavy braking in a few corners – it is a challenging track for the tire manufacturer. Temperatures can vary wildly, from struggling to get into the teens Celsius to hitting track temperatures in the mid 40s °C at last year’s race. Having tires which can cope with both extremes is a hard nut to crack.
Whatever the weather
Moving the race from August to May makes things both easier and more difficult for Michelin. The chance of track temperatures creeping into the 40s °C are low, but Michelin has to bring compounds which can deal with the cold of the morning sessions as well as the stresses of speed. Some accommodation has already been made, with practice, qualifying, and the sprint race on Friday and Saturday all being pushed an hour later, to give the track a little more time to absorb some sun and heat up.
The forecast is looking tricky. Up until last week, this part of England was enjoying an especially balmy spring, but the weather is starting to turn. A cold front is descending from the north, leaving temperatures lingering in the low teens. And rain looks set to fall on Saturday, throwing another curve ball into the equation. At the moment, Sunday looks set to be dry. But the forecast for the race – to be held at 1pm local time, after Moto2 but before Moto3, to fit the traditional 14:00 Central European Time broadcast slot – changes pretty much hour by hour.
Leaving aside the lottery that a wet race might turn into, who can we expect to be at the front at Silverstone? The short answer is, well, everyone. All five of the current MotoGP manufacturers have been on the podium at Silverstone in recent years, and all bar KTM (but including Suzuki, before they withdrew at the end of 2022) have won here. Silverstone is a versatile track, meaning that there are lots of ways to go fast around it.
With Aleix Espargaro making a second wildcard appearance for Honda, that brings the total to seven former Silverstone winners on the grid this weekend. And ten riders have appeared on the podium. A lot of riders will arrive here with good feelings and well-founded optimism.
Target
As usual, Marc Márquez starts the weekend as favorite. There is little to say here, other than if the best rider is on the best bike, and is hungry to make up for the titles he feels he lost due to his injury, he automatically becomes the man to beat. Though perhaps we saw the first hint of a change at Le Mans, where he was happy to settle for second behind eventual winner Johann Zarco.
With Pecco Bagnaia taken out in an early crash, and Márquez comfortably keeping brother Alex at bay, who later also went on to crash, the Ducati Lenovo rider has the beginnings of the kind of margin he needs to take the 2025 MotoGP crown. At the start of the season, Márquez wanted to win everything. Now, he can shift to focus on just finishing ahead of his rivals. There is less reason to take risks, with his main objective coming into view. That doesn’t mean the championship is over, just that Marc Márquez’ path to the title is considerably less difficult than either Alex Márquez or Pecco Bagnaia.
Alex Márquez has already won here in the wet, winning the sprint race in 2023, which bodes well for this year’s sprint race, given the forecast. He is still in the most favorable part of the 2025 season for a satellite rider, before Ducati fix the GP25 and the factory bikes start to pull a gap. Fortunately for the Gresini Ducati rider, the GP25 is proving to be a tough nut to crack for Gigi Dall’Igna and his team of engineers, so it may be a while before the GP25 is definitively better. But with another test coming up after the following race in Aragon, Alex Márquez will have to make hay while the sun shines in Silverstone. Or more realistically, take points in the sprint race when it rains.
The worrier
Pecco Bagnaia faces a much tougher challenge at Silverstone. The Italian was dejected after Le Mans, bad luck piling on after bad feeling with the GP25. The Ducati Lenovo rider still can’t get confident with the front end of this year’s bike, despite the best efforts of his crew and Ducati’s engineers. At Le Mans, he told reporters that his team had a few changes they had wanted to try, but the weather had prevented them. Bagnaia will be hoping for enough dry weather at Silverstone to be able to more thoroughly evaluate these changes.
Fresh from his podium in Le Mans, rookie Fermín Aldeguer faces his last chance to become the youngest ever premier class grand prix winner at Silverstone. The Gresini Ducati rider will be 20 years and 50 days old on Sunday, compared to Marc Márquez’ age of 20 years and 63 days when he took his first MotoGP win back in 2013. Aldeguer has won here in Moto2, and is strong at Silverstone. The bike is good – just ask his teammate – and his main obstacle will be that very same teammate and his teammate’s brother. A win is probably too much to ask. But expect Aldeguer to be in the mix for the podium again this weekend.
Not so random any more
The most intriguing prospect at Silverstone is surely once again Maverick Viñales. Strong races in Qatar and Jerez, a strong race in the wet at Le Mans, foiled by choosing the medium instead of the soft wets, is proof that the Tech3 KTM rider is in excellent form. Viñales has won here already, in 2016 aboard the Suzuki, and had podiums in 2017, 2019, and 2022, meaning that he has had podiums on all three brands (Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia) he has ridden for.
Which raises the question, can he make it four out of four? Could he even bring KTM their first win at Silverstone, making it all five manufacturers who have won at Silverstone? On paper, the layout of Silverstone shouldn’t suit the KTM – too many fast and flowing corners, not enough places you can use the strength of the bike to stop late and get the thing turned – but Maverick Viñales has been making a habit of confounding expectations. It is a brave person who would bet against Viñales causing an upset.
He could also face a challenge from KTM stablemate Pedro Acosta. The Red Bull Factory Racing rider had his first really strong performance of the season at Le Mans, crossing the line in fourth and ruing his decision to go with the medium rather than the soft wets, like Viñales. Acosta gained some confidence in Le Mans, but you also feel he is settling down after a rough start to the year with KTM where his future with the company hung in the balance.
Silly season warming up
There are signs that Acosta’s long-term future may yet lie with KTM. We recently learned that Indian motorcycle maker Bajaj is to supply the funds with which KTM can pay off its creditors, making it likely the Austrian manufacturer will meet the Friday deadline and ensure it can continue as a going concern. What that means for KTM’s future in MotoGP is not entirely clear, but it must surely make it less likely to fold altogether.
Acosta has also been pushed to remain by the bombshell news that Jorge Martin and Aprilia are in the middle of a dispute over the terms of Martin’s contract, and the Spaniard is being linked with HRC. That seat – Luca Marini’s to be more precise – was the one Acosta had been angling for, but now it looks like Jorge Martin will swoop in and snatch it out of his grasp. So Acosta may be forced to stick with KTM, or if the rumors at Le Mans are to be believed, to find himself a Ducati to ride in 2026.
Silverstone will surely be a hotbed of intrigue and haggling, as rider managers and factories look for leverage for next year. It is doubtful much will be decided this weekend. But a very great deal will be discussed.
Fast and flowing
Speaking of Aprilia, on paper the RS-GP is a perfect fit for Silverstone. A track where corner speed is king and it is all about changes of direction rather than acceleration and braking. Aprilia have a win and two podiums here, with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales. With those two moved on to pastures new, it is up to Marco Bezzecchi, Ai Ogura, and Raul Fernandez to bring home the bacon.
If history is anything to go by, Marco Bezzecchi holds the strongest cards, having the best results at the Silverstone circuit. But it is Ai Ogura who continues to impress, continues to find speed where the other Aprilia riders have faltered. I can’t see an Aprilia winning this weekend, but I can see Ogura, Bezzecchi, perhaps even Raul Fernandez putting the cat among the pigeons.
Like Aprilia, Yamaha were once a dominant force at Silverstone, the layout of the track suiting the character of the M1. The bike was usually competitive, and Fabio Quartararo won here in 2021. The Japanese factory lost its way in the last couple of years, as Yamaha found more power but at the price of a bike that was easy to get through the long sweeping corners at the track.
Now, a lot of the old feel of the Yamaha is back. Outright top speed has been swapped for drive out of corners, which should make things easier for the M1’s riders. But they face formidable opposition to overcome.
With two poles at the last two rounds, Fabio Quartararo is clearly on a roll. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider has been very strong, both at his traditional hunting ground of Jerez, and at Le Mans, despite a crash in Sunday’s race. There will be a lot of attention for the Frenchman this weekend, and the question of whether he can pull off a similar stunt at Silverstone.
Pressure’s on
Then there’s Jack Miller. The Prima Pramac rider knows what it’s like to stand on the podium at Silverstone, having done so for Ducati in 2022. The Australian has shown flashes of sheer pace during the start of the season, though marred those flashes with some stupid mistakes. But he is clearly making progress toward making himself indispensable for Yamaha, and not worth throwing out to make way for Toprak Razgatlioglu, whose link to the satellite Yamaha team grows stronger every week.
Finally, to Honda. After the sheer joy of Johann Zarco’s victory in his home race last time out, can a Honda pull another stunt like that? It seems unlikely, given the Japanese manufacturer’s struggles to make the bike more competitive so far. But Zarco’s win was indicative of the progress being made, and that Honda is closing back in with the European manufacturers, and with Yamaha. Honda are unlikely to cause an upset by winning another race. But they might just finish much further up the order than we expect.
How many fans will witness a bit of history on Sunday? The chances are, the grandstands will be half empty, and crowd numbers will disappoint. Which is a shame. Because the event has all the necessary ingredients to bring the fans flocking in. Here’s hoping the British public come to their senses, and come to Silverstone to watch what promises to be a rather thrilling weekend of racing.
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