MotoGP qualifying at Silverstone delivered its usual brand of chaos, with yellow flags, late lap heroics, and a familiar face once again leading the time sheets – Fabio Quartararo, who clinched a stunning third consecutive pole position.
The Frenchman wasn’t dominant from the start, though. He opened Q2 with a lonely lap, having exited the pits much earlier than the rest of the pack.
Meanwhile, the early pace came from Yamaha teammate Alex Rins, briefly heading a 1-2-3 for the manufacturer in the opening phase.
But it didn’t last long. Marc Marquez, shadowing his brother Alex for a tow, lit up the timing screens before taking provisional pole by over three tenths.
That time stood up through a flurry of late attacks – until it didn’t.
The final two minutes were where everything came alive. Bagnaia was the first to displace Marquez, only for Alex Marquez to fire back with a blistering lap that wiped away Pecco’s effort by more than two tenths.
Then Quartararo – visibly frustrated earlier when sitting in P2 – dropped a late hammer to go top, just as yellow flags from a Johann Zarco crash neutralised the final flying laps.
El Diablo delivers 🔥🔥🔥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 24, 2025
A 1:57.233 from the Frenchman ⏱️#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/7Jkc6ZDgXC
That crash, with just seconds remaining, meant no one could respond. Marc Marquez was on a potentially front-row lap but had to back off, settling for fourth behind the Alex-Pecco front row lockout.
Earlier in Q1, Honda’s Luca Marini and Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli pulled off surprise advances to Q2, the latter delivering a perfectly timed tow for Marini that proved just enough.
Joan Mir came heartbreakingly close to joining them, missing out by just 0.023s after a messy second sector.
KTM had a nightmare session. Pedro Acosta, still nursing the consequences of a crash in FP2 that left him with only one bike, could manage no better than 14th – making him the highest-placed KTM runner.
Both factory RC16s of Brad Binder and Jack Miller were nowhere near the top.
Tech problems plagued Maverick Viñales, who rolled out in sector 4 during Q1, and his Aprilia woes meant he too was out of the fight early.
💔 @somkiat35 goes down at T2 #BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/Vvo0ll0qOH
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 24, 2025
Somkiat Chantra’s crash brought out early yellow flags in Q1, further complicating clean lap opportunities.
Despite the drama, it was a session Quartararo made count, extracting peak performance from the M1 when it mattered most.
A hat-trick of poles now in his pocket, he’ll look to convert it into silverware in this afternoon’s Sprint.
