YES, IT’S FEATURELESS, susceptible to rain, and has failed to draw in a big crowd in recent years (Sunday’s attendance totalled just 48,564), but there can be no doubting Silverstone’s pedigree as a racing circuit. The dour English venue served up the finest race of the year to date, with the unreliable British weather playing a pivotal role.
A possible showdown between Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was transformed as light rain sprinkled parts of the track in the race’s final quarter. Applying a degree of caution, the reigning world champion slowed the pace, bringing Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and a rejuvenated Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) into the fray.
Bagnaia may have been flawless for the most part, applying just enough risk to keep his pursuers at bay for 18 of the race’s 20 laps. But this would be Espargaro’s day, thanks to a clinical race-winning overtake just eight turns from the flag. Here he excelled on two counts: riding around Bagnaia’s outside into the left kink at Maggots, taken at 265km/h, was impressive enough; that he did
