Bezzecchi takes silverware after Silverstone chaos

If Fabio Quartararo felt hard done by when a red flag stopped the race he was leading – just after both Alex and Marc Marquez crashed out from the front – it would have been heartbreak to then lose a 4.5-second lead to a rare mechanical issue with seven laps remaining in the restarted 2025 British Grand Prix.

After securing his third consecutive pole position ahead of Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, the cool conditions made the front tyre choice for the 19-lap grand prix crucial, and Quartararo got it spot-on with the unproven soft option.

They knew the medium would go the distance but, as Alex and Marc found out in the first running, crashing on laps one and two respectively, it would take a long time to reach safe working temperature.

The race was less than three laps old when Aleix Espargaro and Franky Morbidelli came together and left oil on the track, causing a red flag. If luck wasn’t on Quartararo’s side, it was well and truly on the side of the two Marquez championship contenders, who were both allowed to take their grid positions for the restarted 19-lap race.

So, where caution was the name of the game for those running the medium front, it was hammer-down for those who opted for the soft. Quartararo was the bravest, posting fastest lap after fastest lap, gapping the field by 2.4sec by just lap three. Jack Miller and Johann Zarco were up to second and third from sixth and ninth on the grid, ahead of sprint winner Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi. The two factory Ducatis of Marc and Pecco Bagnaia both ran wide on lap three, dropping to ninth and 10th.

Bezzecchi made the most of his soft choice early, passing Alex for fourth on lap four and then Zarco for third on lap five. He was met with a 1.2sec gap to Miller in second, which he made light work of, catching and passing the Australian the next time around.

Bagnaia’s difficult season continued when he slid out of the race, falling to his knees in frustration. Conversely, fresh from his home victory in Le Mans, Zarco followed Bezzecchi through to a podium place, relegating Miller to fourth, as an intense battle for fifth between Morbidelli, Alex Marquez, Joan Mir and Marc Marquez unfolded behind him.

Quartararo’s healthy lead of five seconds looked untouchable, even with Bezzecchi’s stellar pace, and it was clear Marc, Morbidelli and Pedro Acosta were beginning to regain the feeling in the tricky conditions. Morbidelli caught and passed Miller for fourth on lap eight, as Marc picked off both Mir and his brother Alex to climb to sixth. He picked Miller off the next time around for fifth and had caught and muscled his way through on Morbidelli on lap 11. Acosta, likewise, had lifted himself up four places in as many laps.

But with 6.5 seconds separating the top four with just seven laps to go, it looked as if time was running out for there to be any change at the front. A raised hand was the first sign of trouble for the race leader, followed by a stoppie on corner entry as the Frenchman desperately tried to disengage his rear ride-height device, before ultimately handing the lead to a very fortunate Bezzecchi.

Zarco admitted later that he toyed with the idea of fighting for the victory, before understanding his tyres weren’t up to the task of closing the three-second gap in the remaining six laps, turning his focus instead to managing the gap back to Marc. 

Miller fought hard in the latter stages of the race, but was unable to hold off Alex Marquez or Acosta in the end, while Marc had his own last lap stoush to deal with in the form of Morbidelli who was pushing hard for a podium finish.

Bezzecchi crossed the line four seconds clear of Zarco, celebrating his first win since the 2023 Indian Grand Prix, as Zarco became the first Honda rider to take back-to-back podiums since Marc Marquez in 2021. Marc did hold on to third place, by just two hundredths of a second, crucially putting a rider between himself and title rival Alex in fifth. Luca Marini, Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded out the top 10. 

In terms of the championship standings, Marc Marquez increased his lead over Alex to 24 points, with 196 points to his younger brother’s 172. Pecco’s crash leaves him 72 points adrift of the top spot, stuck on 124 points, with Morbidelli (98pts) and Zarco (97pts) separated by just one point in fourth and fifth. Miller moves up one place to 16th with 29 points.

The series heads back to Spain for Round 8, for the Grand Prix of Aragon, held over June 6 to 8.