MotoGP | Silverstone GP FP1: Marquez, best time and crash

MotoGP GP Silverstone Great Britain Free Practice 1 – The historic Silverstone track returns to host a MotoGP race after a year's break, last year there were no races due to Covid-19, while this year the British circuit is the scene of the twelfth stage of the 2021 MotoGP.

Absent Maverick Vinales, who after being suspended for disciplinary reasons and after apologies  terminated his contract with Yamaha, arriving at consensual separation. In place of the Spanish rider (who will test the Aprilia at Misano at the end of the month, ed.) Cal Crutchlow, with rookie Jake Dixon astride Franco Morbidelli's M1, still struggling with rehabilitation after knee surgery.

The best time of the first free practice session went to Marc Marquez, who seemed in great form and stopped the clock at a time of 2:00.941, although at the end of the session the eight-time world champion suffered a bad fall at curve 2; motorcycle destroyed but rider fortunately uninjured.

Second time for the excellent Aleix Espargarò (+0.250s), who on board the Aprilia is ahead of Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha (+0.360s) and Pol Espargarò's Honda HRC (+0.395s).

The best Ducati is that of Jack Miller (+0.468s), fifth ahead of Takaaki Nakagami's Honda LCR and Alex Rins' Suzuki. Eighth and ninth times for the Ducatis of Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco (Team Pramac). Alex Marquez (Honda LCR) closes the Top Ten.

Excellent performance by Danilo Petrucci, eleventh with the KTM of Team Tech 3 on a track where in 2015 he achieved his first podium with the Ducati Pramac. The rider from Terni precedes Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Martin (Ducati Pramac), with the latter crashing without consequences.

Valentino Rossi riding the Yamaha Petronas achieved the sixteenth time, while Enea Bastianini (Ducati Avintia) and Luca Marini (Ducati Sky VR46 Avintia) were in eighteenth and twentieth position respectively.

Jake Dixon, riding the MotoGP for the first time, finished 21st, ahead of Lorenzo Savadori, with the Italian having recently undergone surgery on his right ankle due to his fall in the Styrian Grand Prix, when he hit Dani Pedrosa's bike.