The British Grand Prix saw Aprilia return to form, with the Noale-based marque locking out the podium positions in both races. Ducati was reduced to the second-best manufacturer, but within a different pecking order within its roster, while Pedro Acosta again led the show for KTM as Enea Bastianini endured a trying weekend.
There were plenty of crashes at Silverstone, with both Trackhouse riders going down at one point and giving away valuable points.
But ultimately, the weekend highlighted how the championship would continue to ebb and flow between the series’ two Italian manufacturers, setting up an intriguing second half of the season.
Here are the winners and losers from the British GP weekend
Winner: Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi
The factory Aprilia team bounced back from recent disappointments in style at Silverstone. The credit for that goes to the riders, who had been criticised far too often for not making the best of the package at their disposal. But the British GP weekend marked a sizeable shift in both their mentality and confidence on the bike.
Jorge Martin reverted to an older-spec bike (albeit with the latest aero package) and immediately found his winning form again. While not quite at his Le Mans level yet, he was still impressive, particularly on Saturday, after feeling lost in the final races before the summer break. A mistake at the start on Sunday was the only blemish, but he walked away from the weekend with a lead of 31 points, up from 14.
Marco Bezzecchi’s comeback was arguably even more impressive. That brutal Hungary/Czechia/Netherlands run could have taken a mental toll on any rider, but Bezzecchi had to deal with two major injuries after a crash at the Sachsenring. Still in pain and clearly lacking strength and mobility, Bezzecchi held on to claim a double podium, proving his naysayers wrong. His championship challenge is firmly back on track.
Loser: Marc Marquez
This was Marc Marquez’s second-lowest-scoring weekend of the year, only after the season-opening Thai GP when he was forced to retire from the main race with a puncture. After a weekend in which he scored just 10 points, when Martin scored more than three times as many, Marquez has dropped to fourth in the standings, 40 points off the top.
Marquez has long accepted that there would be some weekends this year when he would have to settle for damage limitation mode. That mindset has actually worked well for him to curb any disappointment, with the Assen weekend providing a good example of this approach. But ninth and seventh were definitely on the lower end of what he would have expected, even after tempering his ambitions.
Curiously, Marquez admitted that he was losing time in areas that had previously been his strengths at Silverstone. This was particularly noteworthy because the May surgery had helped him capitalise on his advantages, especially through left-hand corners.
While Marquez is likely to enjoy more dominant weekends over the remainder of the season, Silverstone offered a warning that his bad weekends may be more costly than many had anticipated.
Winner: Raul Fernandez
If the factory Aprilia riders could show their ability to bounce back from setbacks, Raul Fernandez didn’t want to be left behind.
Saturday’s sprint was tough. He was already frustrated by his tyre selection heading into the race, having felt until the last moment that the medium rear was the right way to go. Then, he fumbled the start and dropped to sixth, seemingly losing any chance of a podium finish. But the worst was still to come, as he let the frustration get the better of himself and crashed while chasing Bezzecchi for fifth.
However, those disappointments seemed to charge up Fernandez, who, with the encouragement of his team, delivered one of the best rides of his career. Fernandez had been the only Aprilia rider yet to register a grand prix win this year, but the British GP weekend finally ended that wait. Ambitious but measured at the start, strategic with his early-race speed and masterful with his tyre management skills, Fernandez executed everything perfectly to add to his 2025 Australian GP win.
A few more results like this and he may no longer be just an outside contender for the title.
Loser: Ai Ogura
It took until the 12th round of the season for Ai Ogura to make his first big error. In the context of how other Aprilia riders have fared through the year, that is actually a huge achievement. But when all your team-mates are on the podium and you are the only one on the ground, that has to sting.
Ogura pushed at the “wrong place at the wrong time” and hit the deck just around the halfway point, having already lost ground with a stuck ride-height device at the start. In fairness, it wasn’t too different to the error Fernandez made in the sprint, but the consequences were higher and he had no opportunity to rebound immediately.
Given Ogura had been seen as the most dependable rider within the Aprilia roster, the DNF went to show that every rider on the grid is capable of such mistakes, especially in the middle of an intense 22-round season. He now finds himself 37 points off the top spot in the standings, a gap that won’t be easy to bridge if Martin continues in the same vein of form.
Winner: Alex Marquez
This was another weekend where Alex Marquez emerged as Ducati’s lead rider, even if Ducati hit a ceiling in its fight against Aprilia. Although the Spaniard didn’t qualify as high as he would have liked, he was immediately on the move in the sprint, passing Fabio di Giannantonio late on in the race and clearing him comfortably to grab fourth.
Sunday was more of the same, as he had little trouble overtaking the Ducatis of Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez. He even snatched third from Marco Bezzecchi, but a mid-race mistake undid all his hard work and sent him back to sixth.
But it’s remarkable how he was able to claw his way back in little time, jumping back to fourth in just two laps. Bezzecchi ultimately denied him a podium finish, but this was still his second-best scoring weekend of the year.
Loser: Francesco Bagnaia
The British GP was reminiscent of Francesco Bagnaia’s 2025 nadir. No speed in either one-lap or race trim and a crash at the end of the weekend - it’s a movie that he has seen all too well.
From the outset, it was clear Bagnaia was struggling at Silverstone. He couldn’t stop the bike and the lack of grip was alarming. A crash during the time attack phase only made things worse. In qualifying, he never appeared quick enough to progress to Q2, and struggled to 17th in the sprint after a late tyre drop-off.
Things failed to improve on Sunday and was running in 15th place when he suffered a crash that he could only describe as “strange”. “I never lost the front exiting from a corner”, he said, as he remained puzzled by what happened.
The Italian will be hoping this weekend was a one-off, or at least a consequence of his recent arm pump surgery, rather than a sign of an underlying lack of pace.
