Raúl Fernández won the British MotoGP Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, leading from the first corner to the chequered flag for his first victory of the 2026 season. The SuperFile Trackhouse rider, who crashed out of Saturday’s sprint, beat the factory Aprilia pairing of Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi and became the 12th different winner in the last 12 British Grands Prix, according to the official MotoGP.com race report.
Fernández started second, slipped ahead of Bezzecchi at the launch, and was never headed. By lap three he had set a new race lap record and carried a lead of around two seconds. Martin, the polesitter, spent the opening corners trading places with Marc Marquez and Ai Ogura before settling into the chase that defined the middle of the race.
Fernández makes amends after sprint exit
The win repaired a weekend that had threatened to unravel. Fernández had been among the fastest riders all weekend but threw away Saturday’s sprint with a crash, leaving Martin to take the sprint win and stretch his championship advantage. There was no repeat on Sunday. His pace was relentless, and every attempt by the Aprilias behind to close the gap was answered within a lap.
The race behind him was eventful. Across laps six and seven, Enea Bastianini fell at Turn 17, Iker Lecuona crashed at Turn 12 and Cal Crutchlow tumbled at Turn 6. On lap eight, Francesco Bagnaia slid off at Turn 7, the same place he crashed a year ago. The biggest blow came on lap nine, when Ai Ogura ran wide at Turn 16 and out of the race in his first crash in race trim this season, a costly error for a rider chasing the title fight.
A podium battle settled late
With five laps remaining Fernández was more than four seconds clear, and Martin’s late push only trimmed that to 3.1 seconds with three to go. The margin at the flag was 2.5 seconds, a dominant afternoon made to look closer than it ever was. Behind the leading pair, Bezzecchi held third for his second podium of the weekend, completing an all-Aprilia top three at Silverstone.
Alex Marquez looked like the best-placed Ducati for much of the afternoon, moving up to third before a mistake at Turn 1 dropped him to fifth. He recovered to fourth, the first Ducati home, ahead of Pedro Acosta and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who passed Marc Marquez at Turn 3 on lap 18. The reigning champion had to settle for seventh, with Brad Binder eighth, Luca Marini ninth as the top Honda and Diogo Moreira completing the top ten.
Martin tightens his grip on the title
Martin’s second place extended his championship lead to 31 points over Bezzecchi, with Aprilia riders occupying the top three places in the standings. Marc Marquez trails Martin by 40 points, and Ogura’s crash cost him valuable ground. With ten rounds remaining, the series moves on to Aragon for the next round of a title fight that Silverstone has reshaped once again.
Want to track the 2026 title race as it unfolds? Use our MotoGP points calculator to update the standings round by round and see how the gap can swing.
