The British GP according to Boris

MotoGP 2025

Round Seven – Silverstone

Mine weren’t the only fried nerves on Sunday. I’m certain Silverstone was literally buzzing with jangled synapses. Maybe not in the crowd, who looked cold, miserable, and utterly and totally dispassionate and English.

Few of them could be bothered to cheer for the foreigners across the channel, and Jake Dixon did little to impress them in Moto2, so they all just sat there being wind-blown.

But I’d literally watched the Moto2 race standing up. Seeing our Senna Agius take his maiden win in that class, was brain-meltingly exciting. Young Senna rode one of the bravest, smartest, and most ruthless races I have ever seen in any class anywhere. His win was simply magnificent.

Because England, the Moto2 race was the first of Sunday’s races, followed by MotoGP, and then the Moto3. And since Saturday’s Sprint produced another Marquez family affair – albeit with the leading roles reversed – chalk up one overstimulated and over-confident Alex Marquez.

Alex’s win ended, or perhaps just briefly halted, Marc’s relentless domination of the Sprint races. Alex sailed to victory with seeming ease from second on the grid. No-one could get near him, even though Fabio Quartararo had set a lap record in Qualifying, secured pole, and had looked seriously fast all weekend. Fabio did get the holeshot, but that did not last all that long.

How was Sunday to be any different? The lights would go out and the Spanish brothers would piss off into the distance, lubricated by Bagnaia’s tears and Fabio’s suffering.

What actually happened was very different and we were witness to one of the most exciting and engaging MotoGP races in ages. And right after Senna’s astonishing ride in Moto2 had already nigh on given everyone watching massive stress-strokes.

Alex Marquez hammered off the line full of confidence. He was gonna smash them all again, just as he had smashed them all on Saturday. Thing is, he smashed himself into the track maybe 200-metres off the start line just as he was about to arc into Turn One.

Marc was now in the lead, with Fabulous and Bagnaia in hot pursuit. Behind them, Morbidelli, who had a three-place grid penalty from prior sins, had engaged with wildcard Aleix ‘The Captain’ Espargaro, and both of them went down. The Captain’s bike dumped oil on the track.

Almost simultaneously, Marc Marquez crashed out of the race, and all of a sudden, the race was red-flagged. Marc had not crashed on the spilt oil as everyone first thought. He just fell off. The oil on the track from The Captain’s bike is what caused the red flag stoppage.

But, according to the rules, if both he and Alex could get back to the pits in five minutes, they would be able to re-start the race from their original positions. Talk about an epic bullet-dodge.

Tyre choice as a result of the cold track had proved (and was gonna prove some more) to be crucial. Riders who’d chosen the Soft front – despite dire predictions of it not lasting the race – would do very much better than those who chose the Medium front. Like Marc and Alex.

On the re-start, Fabulous just disappeared at pace. Alex Marquez, likely still shaking from the dumb get-off he’d just had in the previous race, was very much more circumspect. He faded back into the pack.

Pecco pursued Fabulous with a will, as Marc adopted third place, just ahead of Miller, who then applied himself and hammered past the Spaniard and his medium-soft-front-tyred Ducati. It got a little worse for Marc, who then ran wide at Copse, letting Zarco through on what has become the Honda to watch.

If you’d heard Puig being interviewed over the weekend, you’d have noticed a most uncharacteristic cheer in the Dark Lord’s voice. And it was more than just a holdover from Zarco’s brilliant win at Le Mans. His Hondas were slowly becoming a little less shit than they’d been in years.

But Fabulous just kept on disappearing. He very soon eked out a three-second and then a four-second lead. Behind him epic battles commenced. Zarco darted past Bagnaia, as did Marc, but then Bags and Marc both ran wide through Turns Nine and Ten, and Ducati’s all-conquering MotoGP edifice began to tremble.

Bezzechi started to make his move and went past Alex Marquez, who must have been wondering where all his Saturday mojo went. And then it got exponentially worse for Ducati and whatever title aspirations Pecco Bagnaia may have been nurturing. Down went the two-time world champion. Up went his arms in despair. Down went Gigi’s head. Tardozzi would have taken another heart pill right about then.

The top four riders, Fabulous, Jack, Bezz, and Zarco, were all on soft fronts.  And questions about whether those hoops would last, were questions for later. At that moment, the all-conquering Ducati Monster had nothing on them.

Morbidelli now began to try push himself into fifth past Alex Marquez, but the action ahead of them both was much hotter. Bezz and Zarco both sent Jack backwards, and once again, Zarco was beginning to look pretty special. It also looked like one way or another, Fabulous or Zarco, the Poms would get to hear the Marseillaise ringing out over Silverstone. An event they’d all certainly not enjoy.

Fabulous was now five-and-a-bit seconds ahead and looked to be utterly uncatchable. If his tyres held out, it was going to be a win for the ages. And it was certainly a question. Jack, who was running the same hoops, was now starting to go backwards. Marc stalked him briefly, before passing him for fifth place.

Bezzechi was now lapping half-a-second faster than Fabulous, but there was still a fair way to go in the race, and even Mir was showing some dash by fooling around with Alex Marquez.

On Lap 11 of 19, Marc found a way past Morbidelli for fourth, but Franki fought back and Miller kinda hovered behind them all waiting to see if it all went pear-shaped.

And then Quartararo’s bike be-shat itself. His all-conquering lead evaporated as he raised his arm, and dropped his head onto the tank. His ride-height device had not de-activated, and he could not ride the bike in its full-squat position. He was devastated, as you’d expect.

Bezz was now in the lead, by 2.5 seconds over Zarco, who was himself 2.5 seconds ahead of Marc. Miller looked to be trying to get third off Marc, but…well, Marc, you know. Was there a chance Morbidelli could do what Jack could not?

He sure did try. There was no catching Bezz or Zarco, but Franki had a serious crack at Marc on the last lap, and passed him, but Marc fought back two corners from the end of the race and pipped Franki over the line for third by less than two-one-thousandths of a second.

Bezz last won a race in India, 609 days ago. Aprilia boss, Massimo Rivola immediately sent a message to Jorge Martin. “Our bike can win!” it said. And it all kinda makes you wonder what the championship would look like if Martin had been in the mix from the start.