Ducati Dominates British GP Amid Aprilia’s Pole Puzzle: Key Takeaways from Silverstone

Aprilia's Pole Position at the British MotoGP Conceals Persistent Race Issues

Key Takeaways from the Silverstone Race

The 10th race of the MotoGP season, which took place after a second three-week summer hiatus, commemorated the 75th anniversary of the series.

In a tribute, all 11 MotoGP teams showcased unique retro liveries for the 20-lap grand prix held on Sunday. These designs were revealed to a full Silverstone pitlane on the Thursday leading up to the event.

Enea Bastianini, riding his factory Ducati decked out in a 2003 retro livery, clinched his first grand prix victory of the season by overtaking Pramac’s Jorge Martin in the latter stages of the race. Following his sprint race victory the previous day, Bastianini amassed a total of 37 points, giving a strong boost to the second half of his final season with Ducati before transitioning to KTM in 2025, positioning himself as a serious dark horse in the championship race.

By doing this, he assisted his teammate Francesco Bagnaia in minimizing the points gap to Martin in the standings. Despite a crash during the sprint and a challenging race that resulted in a third-place finish, the two-time world champion is just three points behind as they head to Austria.

Ducati secured all podium positions for the seventh consecutive race, establishing a new record, and Desmosedicis claimed the top five positions in the grand prix standings.

In other news, Aleix Espargaro secured the pole position for Aprilia, but his race day results underscored significant problems for the Noale-based manufacturer. Additionally, the qualifying strategies sparked controversy on Saturday morning.

Here are the top five insights we gathered from the 2024 British Grand Prix.

Enea Bastianini showcased astonishing speed during the race. An outstanding display of skill! #MotoGP #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/bx6HpYBqcm

Bastianini ignites his championship dreams

Enea Bastianini delivered what could be considered his best performance of the 2024 season since the initial race in Qatar back in March.

After it was evident that Ducati considered him extra to their needs leading up to the Italian Grand Prix, Bastianini has demonstrated excellent performance. He secured second place at the Mugello GP by overtaking Jorge Martin in the final lap, climbed from 10th to finish third in the Dutch Grand Prix, and achieved a respectable fourth place in Germany.

Bastianini has consistently demonstrated impressive speed in the latter stages of races, but his performance in qualifying has been notably lacking in 2024. During a discussion on Thursday at Silverstone, he highlighted this as a crucial area for improvement. By Saturday morning, he secured third place, later revealing that he focused on achieving a strong lap time with his first set of tyres to steer clear of potential yellow flag interruptions during his second attempt.

Beginning from the front row allowed the #23 to remain competitive in the initial laps despite not being very aggressive. On the sixth lap of the sprint, he overtook Martin to secure his first victory on a Saturday. He repeated this performance in the grand prix by passing Martin on the second-to-last lap when Martin went wide at Turn 3, eventually winning by a margin of 1.931 seconds.

Aleix Espargaro compared Bastianini's smooth corner exits to Dani Pedrosa during his peak performances when he won 31 grand prix races. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez commended his fellow Ducati rider for having an "efficient" technique.

This quality propelled him to secure four victories in 2022 while he fiercely competed for the championship with Gresini late into the season. Now, with the advantage of a GP24 that offers improved engine braking compared to last year's model, Bastianini is emerging as a significant contender.

Although he doesn’t see himself as a title challenger at this stage, given the speed that his teammate Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac’s Martin currently possess, a 49-point gap isn’t insurmountable. This is particularly true when taking into account that Bagnaia experienced a 48-point shift between the French and German Grand Prix races.

Bagnaia stumbles while Martin recovers from German GP mistake

With four consecutive grand prix victories leading up to the summer break, it seemed that Bagnaia, the two-time world champion, had all the momentum in the title race, especially after his main competitor, Martin, crashed while leading in the German Grand Prix.

Holding a 10-point lead as he arrived at Silverstone, Bagnaia displayed impressive performance during practice sessions. He was poised to contend for pole position, but his final qualifying lap was compromised when a sponsor sticker came loose on his visor, blocking his view.

Struggling to deactivate his ride height mechanism in the initial turns of the sprint race set him at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, his speed was competitive enough to win the race, and he had just recorded the quickest lap when he lost control and crashed while in fourth place on the fifth lap. This incident was his fifth race without earning points this season.

He acknowledged that his error was responsible, but it allowed Martin to reclaim nine points from Bagnaia, reducing the championship gap to just one point. Initially, the race appeared promising for the Ducati factory rider who was in the lead, but he eventually finished a distant third, trailing behind Bastianini and Martin.

Martin regained the lead in the points standings by a margin of three, while Bastianini’s impressive performance helped minimize the impact on Bagnaia. After the race, Bagnaia explained that he didn’t have enough grip from his Michelin front tire, which prevented him from turning as usual and caused him to wear out his rear tire more quickly to make up for it.

A brief stint at the front near Luffield allowed Bastianini to pass him for second place on lap 14. From that point onward, Bagnaia focused on maintaining his position, keeping in mind the events of the sprint race.

Martin committed a few mistakes towards the end, but believes that even without those, Bastianini would have still prevailed. He described his experience at the British Grand Prix as flawed, yet not as disappointing as his performance at the German Grand Prix.

This poses a challenge for Bagnaia, as it demonstrates that Martin's mental strength remains largely unaffected by his setback at Sachsenring. During a weekend when Bagnaia needed to further undermine Martin's confidence, he finds himself trailing once more in the rankings.

Aprilia's pole position hides persistent race issues

On Sunday at Silverstone, Aprilia showcased perhaps the most impressive retro design on the grid, adorning its RS-GPs in the 'Perla Nera' colors that Max Biaggi famously rode to win the 250cc championship titles from 1994 to 1996.

After Aleix Espargaro's victory in last year's British Grand Prix, securing pole position with an astonishing lap record suggested another significant weekend for the Noale brand.

Espargaro secured third place in the sprint, a commendable result, by choosing to deviate from the norm and use the hard front tire as a test for the upcoming grand prix. This decision proved to be insightful, as it ended up being "the solution" that helped him finish in sixth place on Sunday, after initially being in contention for a podium spot.

At one point, Espargaro had climbed to third place, but midway through the race, his speed started to decrease, leaving him a second behind the front two riders. Things continued to deteriorate, and the 35-year-old barely managed to secure sixth place, finishing just a little more than two-tenths of a second ahead of Alex Marquez from the Gresini team.

In the past, the RS-GP's grip was a strong point compared to the Ducatis, but in 2024, the Aprilia faced difficulties in this aspect, causing Espargaro to wear out his medium rear tire during the British Grand Prix.

He pointed out that it's very challenging to explain, much like the situation with Barcelona, where there has been a noticeable decline in performance over the race distance compared to the Ducatis.

"However, when it came to handling the rear tire, I was powerless. It was extremely frustrating to watch one Ducati after another pass me and pull ahead, with no way for me to respond. I adjusted the electronics and tweaked the traction control settings, but there was nothing else I could do."

Maverick Vinales, a member of the team, expressed that finishing in 13th place was "hard to take," as he also experienced significant tyre wear. However, he acknowledged that the traction problems he encountered on Saturday were no longer an issue.

Adding to Aprilia's bad luck, both Trackhouse riders collided at Brooklands on the first lap when Raul Fernandez's RS-GP lost grip while braking, causing his bike to crash into his teammate Miguel Oliveira.

Following a robust beginning to 2024, Aprilia has not been advancing as anticipated. Vinales has urged Aprilia to reassess the situation and devise a remedy. Ducati has evidently widened its lead over the competition this year, making it challenging to catch up.

However, Aprilia faces the challenge of improving its existing motorcycle while three of its riders, who will depart with significant insights, are set to join competitors in 2025. Espargaro will move to Honda as a test rider, Vinales is slated to race for KTM, and Oliveira is expected to secure a Yamaha seat at Pramac.

Marquez continues to struggle throughout race weekends with the Ducati

Marc Marquez's results on the GP23 with Gresini this season have been impressive enough that it's hard to believe the British GP marked only his 10th event on the motorcycle. Securing podium finishes on Sundays in four races and additional top-three finishes in five sprint races have maintained his contention for the championship.

Every race brings fresh challenges for Marquez and his team. This was clear during a rough Friday at Silverstone, where Marquez admitted he was "quite far" from the frontrunners, finishing the second practice session in 10th place.

Conditions got better for the qualifying rounds, but his wish for a tow (details to follow) actually worked against him, resulting in a seventh-place finish. While he was in fourth place during the sprint, he ended up crashing at Vale near the end after braking on the white line as he approached the corner.

An adjustment made during the warm-up session altered the course of events, allowing Marquez to contend for a podium position in the initial stages of the grand prix, ultimately finishing in fourth place – a result he described as "a great surprise."

Throughout the weekend, he acknowledged struggling to find his rhythm, but now he concedes that the 2024 Ducati has an advantage over the GP23 on certain circuits, including Silverstone. Even when he manages to compete for podium finishes, he finds himself pushing to the brink compared to his factory Ducati teammates.

Currently trailing Martin by 62 points in the championship standings, Marquez faces an increasingly challenging path to contend for the title as the second half of the season begins.

A challenging day for Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez 💥 #MotoGP #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/Hp5fdlYs23— Crash MotoGP (@crash_motogp) August 3, 2024

Riders' strategies during qualifying are once more under scrutiny, with opinions divided. The practice of waiting for slipstreams during MotoGP qualifying has been a persistent topic of discussion. This controversy resurfaced at Silverstone following a chaotic Q2 session.

Several riders had their laps hindered by slower competitors, and the common tactic of some waiting for others to draft behind them was in full effect.

Reigning world champion Bagnaia described the situation as "ridiculous" while speaking in parc ferme after the second qualifying session. Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta remarked, "We are not foolish; we understand where we cause disruptions and where we don't. This has been happening for many races now—I believe it's time to put an end to it."

Marc Marquez is often guilty of employing this strategy, and it did not work in his favor at Silverstone. He ended up trailing behind a slower Marco Bezzecchi, which ruined a lap that had initially begun well.

The eight-time world champion argues that MotoGP qualifying will remain the same unless the format is altered. However, Marquez dismissed the idea of adopting the one-by-one Superpole format, previously used in World Superbikes and currently in some British Superbikes events, labeling it as "boring".

In Moto2 and Moto3 qualifying sessions, riders are required to adhere to a set of minimum sector times. This rule was introduced to eliminate hazardous scenarios, especially in Moto3, where large groups of riders would often wait on the track to catch a draft.

Aleix Espargaro mentioned at Silverstone that a comparable concept had been previously brought up in the safety commission, but they have never been able to reach a consensus.

In conclusion, without a definite regulation to oversee actions beyond what stewards classify as 'irresponsible riding'—typically obvious cases of obstruction, like the incident between Martin and Raul Fernandez at Assen—riders will persist in behaving as they did during Q2 at Silverstone.

At present, it might be beneficial for more riders to adopt the approach Espargaro used to clinch the pole position…

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