MotoGP British GP: Live commentary and updates from Silverstone

And as expected, Alex Marquez eases past Marco Bezzecchi at Stowe, snatching third place

An Aprilia podium lockout is not a given. Alex Marquez has been able to keep his hard rear alive and is chasing Bezzecchi for third

Martin has finally found a way past Bezzecchi. He is up to P2, but with Fernandez already 4.5s, this might be the maximum he could achieve today

Martin runs deep at Abbey while chasing Bezzecchi. No major damage but he has dropped half a second behind his team-mate

Acosta makes a brave move on Marquez into Copse. He is up to fifth now

Fernandez is checking out. His new lead has now ballooned to three seconds. It's been an impressive comeback from a crash in Saturday's sprint

Watch out for Alex Marquez. He has just passed Acosta to grab fifth. His next target: reigning champion and brother Marc!

Just to confirm, the entire field is on the hard front and the medium rear

Meanwhile, Fernandez is flying on the Trackhouse Aprilia. He is already two seconds clear of the chasing pack, led by Bezzecchi.

Ogura's race is going from bad to worse. He has now dropped to seventh, behind Acosta and Alex MarQUEZ

Order at the start of lap 2

1. Fernandez
2. Bezzecchi +1.1s
3. Martin
4. M Marquez
5. Ogura
6. Acosta
7. A Marquez
8. Di Giannantonio
9. Morbidelli
10. Quartararo

Martin initially dropped to fourth behind Marquez, has repassed the Ducati rider to claim third behind Fernandez and team-mate Bezzecchi.
Ogura is now fifth

Raul Fernandez gets the holeshot from second position while Jorge Martin has slipped down the order, seemingly with a stuck ride height device

And the formation lap is under way. We are about to go racing in Silverstone shortly

For context, those numbers are up on last year but still down on 2024.

But both MotoGP and Silverstone are investing to promote the championship in the UK, having announced a new two-year deal until the end of 2028 in the build-up to this weekend

Here are the attendance figures for the British GP weekend

Friday: 27,137

Saturday: 35,663

Sunday: 43,085

Total: 105,885

Five minutes until formation lap

It would be interesting to see if anyone dares to use the soft rear tyre, given how much graining riders reported in the sprint. We are still waiting for Michelin to reveal the final tyre choices, but at the moment, everyone has opted for the medium rear

Who do you think will win the British Grand Prix? Share your predictions for the top three finishers in the comments section

One rider in focus this weekend is Marco Bezzecchi. The Italian was both physically and mentally down after four brutal race weekends across June and July. But despite struggling with pain and lack of mobility, he was able to qualify on the second row of the grid and claim a podium yesterday.

However, can he maintain his pace over a grand prix distance today?

Starting grid

Grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Time	km/h
1	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	1'56.160	182.572
2	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	+0.021 1'56.181	182.539
3	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	+0.189 1'56.349	182.275
4	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	+0.255 1'56.415	182.172
5	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	+0.296 1'56.456	182.108
6	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	+0.367 1'56.527	181.997
7	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	+0.379 1'56.539	181.978
8	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	+0.729 1'56.889	181.433
9	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	+0.772 1'56.932	181.366
10	I. Lecuona Gresini Racing	27		Ducati	+1.162 1'57.322	180.764
11	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	+1.334 1'57.494	180.499
12	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	+1.883 1'58.043	179.659
13	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	+1.273 1'57.433	180.593
14	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	+1.436 1'57.596	180.342
15	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	+1.717 1'57.877	179.912
16	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	+1.731 1'57.891	179.891
17	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	+1.780 1'57.940	179.816
18	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	+1.921 1'58.081	179.602
19	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	+1.960 1'58.120	179.542
20	C. Crutchlow Team LCR	35		Honda	+1.980 1'58.140	179.512
21	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	+2.254 1'58.414	179.097
22	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	+2.430 1'58.590	178.831
23	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	47		Yamaha	+2.682 1'58.842	178.452
View full results

The sighting lap is under way and the riders are heading onto the track.

But as they say, past performance is no guarantee of future success. So let's hope we have a cracking battle at the front of the field today.

Meanwhile, Ducati has been reduced to the second-best manufacturer in Britain, with Silverstone's fast-and-flowing layout not suiting the Desmosedicis. Alex Marquez was the best Ducati rider in fourth, while his brother Marc Marquez could only manage ninth after suffering from a strange tyre drop off late in the race.

However, it wasn't a perfect day for Aprilia, with Raul Fernandez crashing out on lap 4 after a poor start from second on the grid

Let's do a quick recap of the weekend so far. Aprilia has been the dominant manufacturer at Silverstone, with factory rider Marco Bezzecchi topping practice on Friday and his team-mate Jorge Martin claiming pole position and the sprint win on Saturday. In fact, Martin led a 1-2-3 for Aprilia on Saturday afternoon, the first for the Noale brand in a sprint race. 

We hope you all had a wonderful summer break, and are ready for some exciting two-wheel racing today

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the MotoGP British Grand Prix.