Raul Fernandez Wins British MotoGP Thanks to Pre-Race Anger

Raul Fernandez has revealed that being “angry” with himself was the key to his dominant victory at the British MotoGP. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider felt frustrated after crashing out of the sprint, and that emotion pushed him to discover the limit of the medium rear tyre during morning warm-up.

Starting from second on the grid at Silverstone, Fernandez took the lead at Turn 1 and was never challenged, taking his second career MotoGP victory and first of the season.

"The race was better than what we expected. From the first corner I was first and I started to manage. When I saw Jorge Martin catch me by three or four tenths, I said, 'OK, I need to push a little bit', and I got the gap again," he said.

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"I think the warm-up helped me to understand where the limit of the rear tyre was. This morning, I was quite angry with myself, and I pushed maybe too much. And there, I understood that the limit of the tyre was trying to make 1m58.4s, 1m58.5s. And straight away, I tried to be in 1m59s low. So, in the morning I learned where the limit of the rear tyre was," the Spaniard explained.

Fernandez, now a double MotoGP race winner and the 12th at Silverstone in as many British Grands Prix, added that the race was about mentality. "It was a mentality race. It was difficult to manage because it was not just the tyre but also the fuel. In my case I had to manage it from the first lap. Yeah, I am really happy," he said.

The victory comes on the back of signing a new two-year deal with Trackhouse. "I'm really happy because in some races I was quite frustrated not to know about my situation. Now, I think we got a good deal with Trackhouse after coming here in '24 with too many problems; the bike was not super competitive, and we made a really nice job together. I think the best thing for us was to stay here and not have too many changes, because next year almost everything will be new. Of course, I'm very happy. But I'm more happy to get my second MotoGP victory," he concluded.