Raul rules the British MotoGP

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Ducati struggle with a seemingly straightforward technical issue during a MotoGP weekend, but that’s exactly what we witnessed at the 2026 British Grand Prix, a weekend which was thoroughly dominated by Aprilia.

After locking out the front row during qualifying, with championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) taking pole position ahead of the Trackhouse duo of Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura, the Noale factory also scored its first-ever lockout of the Sprint podium, with Martin ahead of Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), who gave so much on his return from injury that he broke down and cried when he arrived at the medal ceremony. Importantly, the result meant Martin extended his championship lead over Ogura to 17 points.

There were few celebrations in the Ducati camp, though, as all Desmosedici riders struggled to get any kind of life or reliable grip from their rear tyres in race conditions, experiencing severe tyre drop from as early as lap three. The recent return to form we saw from Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) in the lead-up to the summer break was nowhere to be seen at Silverstone. He qualified in sixth place and was in podium contention early in the Sprint, but picked up just a single point for ninth by the chequered flag. Silverstone specialist Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was the best of the rest in fourth place, albeit some three seconds behind Bezzecchi.

So, when the lights went out to start the 20-lap British Grand Prix, all eyes were on whether Ducati had discovered something that could make them competitive against the throng of dominant Aprilias. It was Raul Fernandez who grabbed the holeshot from Bezzecchi, as both Martin and Ogura were forced to take the long way around Turn 1 when their holeshot devices failed to disengage. Marc Marquez took advantage early and was briefly up to third place, before Martin quickly relegated his fellow Spaniard to fourth.

Fresh off the back of his two-year contract extension, having yet to score a victory so far this year and with Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks watching on from the sidelines, Fernandez was leaving nothing to chance. He pulled out a gap of 1.2sec on the opening lap, put in the fastest lap of the race the second time around to put more distance between himself and Bezzecchi, and was three seconds clear and counting by lap five.

Bezzecchi was a second clear of Martin in third, as Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM), Alex Marquez and Ogura all kept tabs, but it was Alex Marquez who applied all of his circuit knowledge to make the biggest inroads in the early stages of the race. He was the fastest man on track on the fourth lap, took Acosta for fifth on lap five and passed his brother for fourth the next time around.

With Fernandez long gone, Martin had clawed his way onto teammate and title rival Bezzecchi’s rear tyre, as Marc Marquez was dropping back into the clutches of Acosta, while Ogura finally showed signs of regrouping and getting back up to speed in seventh.

Further back, the VR46 Ducati pairing of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli were 1.5 seconds adrift in eighth and ninth, ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) and Aussie Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha) in 12th.

Lap nine of 20 was a busy one. Fernandez was four seconds ahead and, perhaps sensing Alex Marquez’s speed behind him, Martin finally found a way past Bezzecchi for second place. But the younger Marquez was on a mission, going as much as one second quicker than Bezzecchi on the previous lap, and he too relegated the in-pain Aprilia rider to fourth, seemingly free of the struggles the other Ducati riders were experiencing.

Ogura suffered a rare crash in the final stages of lap nine, further helping Martin’s title bid, but the first of a handful of warnings from Alex Marquez’s rear tyre came in the first corner of lap 10, when a big moment allowed Bezzecchi and Acosta back through for third and fourth. He shrugged off another moment on lap 12 to relegate Acosta back to fifth and took off after Bezzecchi for one last-ditch attempt at a podium finish.

Despite Marc Marquez posting his personal-best lap of the race on lap 12, Di Giannantonio, who was more than two seconds adrift of Marc at the time, began to find some late-race consistency as Marc’s rear tyre began to drop. Alex Marquez was piling all sorts of pressure on Bezzecchi, who was riding out of his skin to still be in podium contention.

The gap from Marc to Di Giannantonio reduced to 0.7sec by lap 15 and 0.4sec by lap 17, with the move finally coming on lap 18 of 20, while Alex Marquez was still unable to find a way through on the heroic Bezzecchi.

Raul Fernandez started the penultimate lap 2.5 seconds clear of Martin, who was another 1.5 seconds clear of his teammate. An unlikely personal-best lap of the race from Bezzecchi on that penultimate lap was enough to ensure Alex couldn’t get close enough to mount an attack on the final lap, as Fernandez crossed the line to claim just his second premier-class victory, becoming the seventh different winner this season and the 12th different winner of the British Grand Prix in the last 12 years.

Martin finished second, describing his weekend as a “boost of confidence”, as Bezzecchi hung on to complete the podium, breaking down with emotion during his post-race interview, a sign of just how deep he was willing to dig.

But the day was all Fernandez’s, who said that he enjoyed winning his 150th GP start “like a kid”, finishing the race more than 2.5 seconds ahead of the factory Aprilias. Alex Marquez, Acosta, Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez completed fourth to seventh, while Binder, Luca Marini (HRC) and Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) completed the top 10. Miller was 13th at the line. Marquez’s factory Ducati teammate Pecco Bagnaia had a weekend to forget after qualifying 16th and being one of seven riders who crashed during the GP.

The result means Martin (240 points) is now 31 points ahead of Bezzecchi (209 points), who takes second spot from Ogura (203 points). Marc Marquez (200 points) remains in fourth, some 40 points adrift, with Di Giannantonio (199 points) rounding out the top five.

There’s now a three-week break before the series resumes in Aragon, a circuit where Marc Marquez’s dominance is likely to return, over 28–30 August.