► A weekend of racing
► From F1 to MotoGP
► But which is the best spectacle right now
This weekend saw three significant events on the motorsport calendar take place. F1 went to Monaco, the pedestrian ‘jewel in the crown’ of its ever-expanding championship. Later we had the Indy 500, an event that seems to squeeze every ounce of entertainment and commerce out of each of its 200 laps in a way only American sports know how. And in the middle, we had my favourite event of the lot: the British round of the MotoGP.
Almost certainly the least watched, publicised and attended by a huge margin, it proved to be a backdrop to some of the most interesting, emotive, intense racing around right now.
Seven rounds in, the championship already has a tantalizing narrative; possible greatest of all time Marc Marquez is back from injury and now on the best bike. He’s teammate to the most dominant rider during his absence, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia.
Only the 2025 factory Ducati isn’t the best bike right now, thanks to a rare misstep from the Adrian Newey of Ducati, Gigi Dall’Igna. The result? Right now, Marc’s nearest competition comes from his brother, Alex Marquez on last year’s bike. It’s already good, isn’t it?
The old guard of Yamaha and Honda have fallen well behind the European manufactures of Ducati, Aprilia and KTM, but they’re now reaping the benefits of concessions designed to get them back in the fight.
Those concessions consist of things like extra testing time, the ability to homologate more parts and they help in other areas where the all-conquering team from Bologna is currently restricted. F1 and WEC learn a thing about this ‘balancing’ of competition alone.
All the while, current world champion Jorge Martin has been injured not once but twice – and reports suggests he now wants out of his freshly signed contract. The ink is still drying, but paddock rumours suggest he’d rather make the hop to a resurgent Honda or Yamaha. It’s practically Eastenders on two wheels at around 200mph.
With Ducati’s technical domination faltering, Yamaha knocking on the door of a race win, and Aprilia hoping to prove to its new signing has pace to win, we were set up for a stormer in Silverstone – and it certainly delivered.
The first race was a dual between the Marquez brothers with the younger winning the Sprint race (yes, like F1) for the first time this year. MotoGP has a sprint race every round nowadays, with a £60 General Admission Saturday ticket getting you in front of a warm-up, two qualifying sessions and short race.
Sunday was more eventful, with a start that saw the younger Alex crash out, followed just a couple of laps later by his brother. Oil on the track for another incident meant we a red flag and with it another race start. The second time round, it was Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo who shot out in front, maintaining a gap of around five seconds before a technical malfunction put him out of the race.
So, it was left to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to win, sending a message for the absent Jorge Martin. He was followed by Johan Zarco on a Honda and finally Marc Marquez on his Ducati – signalling the imminent return of the Japanese brands. Marquez had to fight for his podium too, finishing by just 0.017 seconds ahead of Franco Morbidelli’s Ducati.
The rider of the day had to be Fabio who knelt beside his bike on the straight, before slumping on a wall, leathers and helmet still on. Hard to watch, it showed another side of the human element in a sport where the riders show their technique just as much as their emotions. Later, it became too much for him again, as he recounted his near return to winning ways in the media scrum.
Hanging off the bike at 200mph, holding on to a slide while headbutting foam sponsor signs (Marc Marquez) – or sending digs to other rivals in press conferences while nursing a broken foot (Morbidelli), it’s amazing these personalities aren’t on a Drive to Survive-style format as popular as F1. It wouldn’t even need the editing sleight of hand that Drive to Survive gets.
Still, you’d be hard pressed to know that the MotoGP was happening – even if you were 20 minutes away from the track. MotoGP is broadcast on TNT, which labels itself as the home for bikes – yet ask anyone where to find it and you’d be left with a shrug. That’s a shame, because the MotoGP marketing budget is a drop in the marina compared to F1, but it’s got a more entertaining product to showcase.
Compare that Silverstone race to the 78 laps around Monaco F1 offered us. Processional and somewhat artificial this week (due to a mandatory double stop) the race and result were inevitable as the annual calls to have the circuit removed from the calendar. Still, as I write this, former F1 driver Alex Wurz has rustled up some suggestions to improve racing.
In my view, the track is fine – but not for cars this wide or this powerful. Just a few weeks ago I got to watch the Formula E there, which now uses an identical layout to F1 – and the EVs looked more a home.
Narrow, with low grip, no aero and high acceleration, the current gen Formula E cars feel far more suited to the streets of the principality. What’s more, the all-electric sport already has the tools (or gimmicks) in its DNA to prod something into happening. F1 can’t do that. Formula E can also broadcast practice sessions live on YouTube, and a string of lucrative TV deals means F1 can’t do that either.
Despite its faults, Formula One remains my favourite sport, for the technology, the drama, the speed and the technique. But MotoGP is a close second, and this weekend proved just how the two could learn from each other – and Formula E for that matter.