Marco Bezzecchi claimed his maiden MotoGP victory for Aprilia at Silverstone following a Fabio Quartararo retirement from the lead.
The Italian crossed the line 4s clear of LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco and championship leader Marc Marquez.
Pole-sitter Quartararo lost the lead into Turn 1 to Gresini rider Alex Marquez, but Saturday’s Sprint winner slid off at high speeds in the first corner.
His brother Marc Marquez took the lead into Turn 2 and sped off alongside Quartararo and Bagnaia.
Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro both crashed out at Vale at the end of Lap 1, resulting in three retirements on the first lap.
The drama continued as the second Marquez brother crashed out at Maggots on Lap 2. Although he rejoined the race, a red flag was soon raised due to oil on the track from the earlier crash involving Morbidelli and Espargaro.
The red flag led to the decision to allow all riders to restart on the 19-lap count, making Alex Marquez’s crash from the lead now redundant.
The restarted 19-lapper meant all riders started again in their respective qualifying positions. Before the red flag was issued, Quartararo led the way, followed closely by Bagnaia.
Quartararo and Bagnaia led the way into Turn 3, whereas the older Marquez brother sat in third place.
Alex Marquez fell from second to fifth by the end of the Lap 1 restart, but Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller made statement moves on the Marquez brothers.
His immense pace saw the Australian divebomb Bagnaia into Turn 5, making it a Yamaha 1-2 inside the first two laps.
The rise of the Japanese manufacturers continued as Zarco overtook Alex Marquez around the outside down the back straight, before overtaking both factory Ducati riders.
On the topic of both factory Ducati riders, both Marquez and Bagnaia ran wide at Copse on Lap 4, which saw them drop down to ninth and 10th, respectively.
The Italian dropped down to 14th before crashing out at Luffield, whereas fellow countryman Marco Bezzecchi rose to third place.
All the action in the early stages was due to the differences between the soft and medium tyre choices. The lead quartet of Quartararo, Miller, Bezzecchi and Zarco gambled on the soft fronts.
Quartararo established a ridiculous 4.5s advantage over Miller by the end of Lap 6. But Miller’s time in second ended on that lap due to Bezzecchi and Zarco moving past with ease.
The older Marquez brother made moves on Honda’s Joan Mir and Jack Miller to claim fifth at the halfway stage, while the younger brother was overtaken by the 2020 champion and sitting in eighth.
Quartararo’s near five-second lead at the front was cut by half a second as Bezzecchi set two fastest laps.
However, a technical issue with the Frenchman’s ride height device on Lap 13 resulted in him having to retire. It looked like a possible victory for Yamaha after a multi-year drought as the Frenchman vented his frustration off the track.
The new leader Bezzecchi held a 3s advantage with five laps left to go, before extending further to 3.5s inside one lap.
The Aprilia rider took the chequered flag to pick up his first win after joining the Italian brand at the start of the year.
Zarco wrapped up second place to secure back-to-back podium finishes for Honda after a historic win at Le Mans.
Marquez and Morbidelli squabbled for third place right until the end, but Marquez crossed the line 0.017s ahead of the VR46 Ducati rider.
Gresini’s Marquez earned fifth place after starting from the middle of the front row, finishing one second ahead of KTMs Pedro Acosta.
Miller claimed seventh to finish as the lead Yamaha rider following on from Quartararo’s ride height device fiasco.
Luca Marini secured eighth, fending off from Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Mir crossed the line in 11th place, finishing one second clear of Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez.
Brad Binder and Alex Rins finished 14th and 15th, respectively, to close out the final two point scoring positions.
Miguel Oliveira crossed the line in 16th ahead of 2024 race winner Enea Bastianini, who finished ahead of Aprilia and Honda riders Lorenzo Savadori and Somkiat Chantra.
