Johann Zarco – P1
“There are no words to express what I felt today. We didn’t expect to win, and doing it on home soil is something truly incredible and emotional. It was a long and intense race, but the strategy we applied as a team really paid off. I took a gamble, as the forecast predicted rain, and today, we made the right call. Winning with Honda is something I’ve been aiming for, and now we’ve done it. Huge thanks to the team, to my parents who were here to experience the Grand Prix with me, to HRC, to the sponsors, and to everyone who’s supported us. This is a day I’ll never forget”.
Marc Márquez – P2
“The main goal was to stay fully focused, as in these conditions any small mistake can cost you the race. The track was very slippery but not wet enough for the tyres to work at their best. The most challenging part of the race was the last five laps, as it was crucial to manage the situation — especially mentally — with no other riders nearby. The bike worked really well, but in the wet you never know what might happen. We made no mistakes today, and I’m happy with the result, though the season is still very long.”
Fermin Aldeguer – P3
“I didn’t think I would have been so fast in the wet, the amount of experience was very little and I must say this morning I stayed put in the warm up as I didn’t want to take any risk. In the race, I followed the more experienced riders, even though I made it back to the pits one lap too late but in hindsight, it went well. I knew fourth would have been a good result, but I saw the podium within reach and I kept believing. This weekend has been a 10 out of 10.”
Pedro Acosta – P4
“Wrong tyre today. The start was OK, the comeback was OK and the rhythm in the wet also, but when there was more water on track suddenly it was a mess and the grip was not there. It was super-difficult to understand why the first sector was so slippery and the rest was quite OK! We survived. Generally, a positive weekend but we’re quite sad. We go to the next one.”
Maverick Viñales – P5
“It is fair to say that today was a fantastic show for the fans! I was feeling really good with the soft tyres on the dry, I was really pushing and fighting already for the top 3. Unfortunately, I got the two long lap penalties. When we changed bikes with the wet tyres, we had some issues, I felt a lot of spinning in the main straight, which is something that we need to look into. Anyway, we need these solid results to keep building, we have been really fast all weekend, and we learnt a lot in the wet. Experiencing the French Grand Prix with Tech3 was really special, and I think that we did a great job all together, so thank you to everyone!”
Takaaki Nakagami – P6
“I’m really happy for Zarco, doing this at your home GP is a dream! He was really fast on track today. He and I made the same decision to stay out on the rain tyre, from my side I just tried to stay focused on my job – don’t crash and don’t override. It was pretty chaotic at the start with the pitting and many people changing their bikes, quite difficult to understand. I really enjoyed the race, even if it was really long! Top six is an incredible result, nothing we were expecting, but it’s a great reward for the Test Team who have been working to their maximum not just this year, but for many years. Thanks to Honda HRC for this opportunity.”
Raul Fernandez – P7
“In this kind of situation, you can’t foresee what will happen. Basically, I tried to be calm in all the decisions I made – it was difficult but anyway, we made a really good job and I’m very happy. During the weekend, we were very competitive in almost all conditions, so we can confirm that the good feeling is coming back. In tricky conditions like this you can score a lot of points but also easily make a mistake, it’s not easy. I think we all did well today and we got some good points, some confidence for me, for the team, for everybody. We made a good job and I’m really happy.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio – P8
“We tried to go with the slick, but the first part of the race was clearly wet. We where there in the first laps, then I saw some crashes in front of me, so I lost a lot of time. When everybody stopped, I was too far and I did one more lap. I think that was my mistake that didn’t allow me to achieve the Top 5 today. With the wet tyres, I struggled at the beginning, by then it was better and better and I had a decent pace. I’m super happy with the result thinking about how the weekend has been. We recovered some points to the guys in front. It seems we found a base setup, so we are going to Silverstone with positive feelings.”
Lorenzo Savadori – P9
“It was a great race and a good result. It’s a shame about the huge drop in performance with the medium rain tyres, otherwise we would have been able to do something better, but in any case, some interesting things came out of this race. I’d like to thank all of Aprilia, the racing department, and the team, because we are all working at 100% to grow the bike. I would especially like to dedicate this good result to Fabrizio Borra, my physiotherapist who I have known since I was a kid, and who unfortunately has passed away.”
Ai Ogura – P10
“Today’s race was quite fun. It was the most complicated race of the season so far and I was swapping the bike according to the conditions. Actually, I was just following what other riders were doing in front of me. I think it was a nice experience – more than half of the race I could ride with the wet tyres and this experience is exactly what I needed. I think today was quite ok, there were a lot of possibilities, but I just followed the others. The race was crazy, I got some more experience in MotoGP, so it’s nice.”
Luca Marini – P11
“First of all congratulations to Honda HRC and to Zarco for the result, we have all been working very hard to achieve this. Today was a big opportunity and I am honestly really frustrated because I made almost every decision in the opposite way. It’s a big pity, of course after the race it’s easy to say ‘staying on wets would have been the best’ but I made a really good start off the line and we were fast, but the weather changed back and forth. I had a good feeling once it all settled down and I was able to be quite fast, but we lost too much time with the changes. Without these mistakes Zarco showed what was possible.”
Alex Rins – P12
“This was a race for the books. It was unbelievable: the stress, the decisions, everything! Checking the radar, rain was coming. I decided to stay out on wets originally, but then came in to change tyres, and then we had the red flag and the quick starting procedure. The problem during the race was that I came in twice, one more time than the others. On the grid, I was on wets again, and this was correct, but we were struggling, so I thought ‘Let’s try the slicks’. I decided to go in, but I had to come in again to put in wet tyres. I tried to manage the race by staying calm, because it was very delicate to find the limit on track. In the middle of the race, I tried riding different lines, and thanks to this I was able to ride 1’46s laps, and I recovered 16s to Marini. I was just missing some laps to overtake him.”
Enea Bastianini – P13
“Crazy race! Many things were going on today, with the weather constantly changing: one minute it was raining, and then it stopped. We started the warm up lap with slick tyres, then it rained, so we swapped bikes, and after it was just a disaster, and we changed again. The situation was difficult to manage for everyone, we crashed twice, unfortunately taking down Pecco (Francesco Bagnaia) at the race start, for which I will have to serve a penalty in the next round. But in the end, I still managed to bring a few points with P13. We tried to give our best today, our pace was strong once the chaos was over, although we could have had a better strategy from the start, but it is like this! Let’s focus on doing a good job all together in Silverstone.”
Marco Bezzecchi – P14
“This was one of those situations where anything could happen. This was my first time in these conditions with Aprilia, so I wasn’t at all sure of what to do. I usually like to put slicks on when the track is not entirely dry, but since this was my first time, I decided to stick with the rain tyres. However, the track was drying out and I stopped to put on slicks, but as soon as I did that, it started raining again. I tried to hold out, because my times weren’t that bad, but unfortunately I crashed. I picked up the bike, got back to the garage, and switched to the bike that was set up for the rain. I had the rear medium tyre on and, as soon as it came up to temp, I started doing really good laps. But then, at a certain point, it began raining harder and I lost temperature, confidence, and grip at the rear, so I started slowing down a lot”.
Franco Morbidelli – P15
“The race was crazy! I had a decent start, and then I was with the top group trying to control what was going on. Then when I decided to to change the bike because it was raining too much, I ended up on the ground. I struggled to bring back the bike to the pit, when I did it, I went back with the rain tyres and fought my life for getting one point. We managed to do this and that’s a nice feeling to get that point after such a messy race. We struggled quite a lot during the weekend, but we were able to get back to a decent speed on wet conditions. We will need to start in a better way to reach sooner our maximum performance. In Silverstone I hope in a good weather, our speed is there and we’re confident.”
Francesco Bagnaia – P16
“My strategy from the beginning was to stay on track no matter what. Unfortunately, I had some significant spinning at the start and had to close the throttle. Just before turn one, I was passed by several riders, and then came the contact with Enea (Bastianini). These things can happen, especially when there are riders on slick tyres and others on wets in the same race — speeds are very different. I’m sad because had I re-joined straight away, without needing to return to the pits due to the bike damage, I could have finished in the top five. But unfortunately, everything went the wrong way today.”
Fabio Quartararo – DNF
“We knew that maintaining the pace needed to win or to be on the podium was going to be complicated. So, when it started to rain, I wanted to push 100% on the first laps. I think riding with slicks at the start was the right choice because we were quite fast on the opening laps. I did my first long-lap penalty, and I was pushing quite well, so I was still very close to Marc. But then it started to rain just a little bit more, and I lost the front. But we did our best. It’s a shame, but I still really enjoyed the weekend. I think we have managed to show a great pace and lap times. We gave it our maximum. The crowd were crazy. We already could see on Thursday how full the grandstands were, and the fans were supporting us all weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but I can imagine how Johann is feeling. Congratulations to him!”
Alex Marquez – DNF
“On one hand, we were quick in every condition, on a track where we haven’t performed too well before. The negative side is that we crashed twice, and the second one could have been avoided. It would have been important to score points anyway, even a few, but we couldn’t get the job done. Too bad, because it could have been an excellent weekend.”
Brad Binder – DNF
“Not too much to say. My race was a lot shorter than I would have liked. Very tricky to understand what tires we should have had at the beginning. We had wets, came in for slicks and I thought things were going quite well but into the last corner there was a bit more water than I expected and it just slipped away. I picked up, did my two long laps and was planning to come in but it just washed in Turn 1. It was time to have been on the wets! Sometimes things do not work out, and sorry to my team because they deserved a good result after all their efforts lately. We’ll try again in Silverstone.”
Miguel Oliveira – DNF
“It was a shame not being able to finish the race, because it would have been great to get some points and in such a crazy race it would have been a plus. It was a lottery, but we knew that some rain was going to come, it was just a matter of time and see how much rain was going to fall. And it paid off. On the rain everything was better physically, not as hard and demanding, but as soon as it started to rain more I had absolutely no rear grip, it was really really hard to stay on the bike, all of a sudden the bike would snap, making things very difficult. It was a nightmare to manage that. When I crashed I was slow, and nonetheless I could not avoid it. It was a shame.”
Jack Miller – DNF
“This one is tough to digest. We had the right strategy, I gambled, trusted the forecast and I was right: staying out there at the beginning was tough, all the bikes on slicks were coming by, but I knew there was going to be a crossover where I could have started to recover. I was trying to nurse it and do all the right things, It hurts, because I don‘t understand what went on. It had started to rain a little more, like I was hoping, came to the last corner, did the same thing as the laps before but I lost it, had an highside and that was it. Don‘t know if it was because of bumps or different patches of asphalt, but I am devasted because we had done everything right. I am gutted for the team, also considering that Johann at that time was behind me”.
Team Managers
Pablo Nieto – VR46 Team Manager
“It was a tough weekend, especially because we lost the direction a little bit. But we are confident since we have a good bike, an excellent team and two great riders. We conquered a point with Morbidelli after a crash in a strange Sunday, and we got the 8th place thanks to Di Giannantonio, it’s not a bad result following his start from the 17th position. We still miss something, but I am confident we are back to the top at Silverstone.”
Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Aprilia Team Principal
“We are pleased today because it was such difficult conditions, many decisions to take before the start, during the race and I think we managed well to place both riders in the top 10. Raul had a steady race and he managed the situation well. It was also very important for Ai to have nearly a full race in the wet conditions and by the end of the race, his lap times had improved a lot – very close to the top riders. We are happy overall today; we managed it well, brought good results, gained experience and no mistakes, so thank you very much to all the team for managing everything so well in these conditions. We scored points and looking forward now to the next round.”
Massimo Rivola – Aprilia Racing
“First of all, congratulations to Johann Zarco who, in front of his home fans, accomplished an achievement that he will never forget. The race was decidedly chaotic and with good opportunities to shake things up, given the weather conditions. Good job to Lorenzo for taking a risk at the start, choosing to stay on slicks. Personally, I wasn’t entirely convinced about the new regulations with the double long lap penalty as a solution from the start, but it’s the same for everyone. Throughout the weekend, we saw great speed from Marco – unfortunately, not demonstrated by adequate results – but I’m confident that they will arrive soon. Hard work always pays off. It’s great to see two Trackhouse MotoGP Team RS-GP25 bikes in the top ten.”
Massimo Meregali – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“Rain falling right before the start is always tricky for the riders and the teams. It makes the tyre choice an absolute gamble. The race today was simply chaotic, and it took a while for it all to settle down. But when it did, Álex rode a mature race. The conditions were changeable and tricky throughout the 26 laps, so he had to decide for himself per lap where the limit was and just how hard he could push. In the end, his efforts were rewarded with a 12th place. Our hearts go out to Fabio, who understandably is disappointed to have ended this home GP with an NC score. However, he was showing courageous riding on the opening lap. In the past, we have struggled in similar mixed conditions, but Fabio was very competitive up until his crash, so we take this as a positive sign for any further wet races we might have this season. We now look forward to having another go at scoring good results in two weeks’ time at the British GP. But we won’t be sitting still in the meantime! Upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday we will be riding in Misano for a private test, focusing on bike development.”
Gino Borsoi – Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“It’s hard to comment on a race where we walk away with nothing despite doing everything right. With a forecast that guaranteed rain but a sky that held back until the last moment, making the right calls was incredibly difficult. And yet we did well, not just in choosing wet tires for both riders, but also in resisting the temptation to follow others into the pits to change bikes. That‘s a lesson we take home with us. Of course, it hurts to think that when Jack crashed, he was 10 seconds ahead of Zarco, and we all know how that ended. Still, even though his race ended the same way, I want to say well done to Miguel, who was running a fantastic race despite a tough weekend physically. He even climbed to second at one point. That says it all.”
Aki Ajo – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager
“More progression. Technically we are clearer than where we were at the start of the season and I feel our riders have more confidence to chase the top results. Le Mans is often not the easiest place to make a solid weekend because the conditions can change so much: the race today was a bit special! But the weekend was constant for our work. We made the top five and I’m sure we had the pace to go for even better. We have potential for the next races and we go to Silverstone with confidence.”
Nicolas Goyon – Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team Manager
“Hectic race that we have just lived in Le Mans. When we checked the weather conditions this morning, we knew that it could be either wet or dry, so we were ready for all possible scenarios. After two bike changes and a double long lap penalty, Maverick Viñales managed to bring us home an astonishing 5th place after an incredible performance. He has been fast in both dry and wet this weekend, which really highlights the progress he’s made with the KTM, so huge congratulations to him for his performance. Enea Bastianini got blocked in the first tricky corners at the start, and crashed once, and then another time a few laps later. Once it started to rain hard, he swapped bikes and then the pace started to get better and better. He was too far anyway, but he still managed to take 3 points with 13th. Happy that we have survived through these tricky conditions with both riders in the points, let’s now focus on the next round in Silverstone!”
Piero Taramasso – Michelin Two-Wheel Motorsport Manager
“A home Grand Prix for Michelin that went very well, despite Sunday’s weather! Performance, spectacle, and sustainable technologies worked hand in hand to delight the crowd throughout this double MotoGP and MotoE weekend. We faced a wide range of weather conditions: cold and hot dry track, wet asphalt, and heavy rain. In all of these situations, riders made the most of tyres that remained safe, versatile, and high-performing, inspiring total confidence. As for the new MICHELIN Power Slick MotoE tyres, they offered an unprecedented level of grip and performance while incorporating up to 58% renewable and recycled materials—a technological achievement matched with a performance gain.”
