Fernandez takes dominant win, Martin extends points lead

Raul Fernandez annihilated the competition at the British Grand Prix to claim his first victory of the 2026 MotoGP season, leading another podium lockout for Aprilia.

Having crashed out of Saturday’s sprint, the Trackhouse rider redeemed himself in the main race, grabbing the lead at the start and leading every lap in what was arguably the most convincing performance of his MotoGP career.

Aprilia’s Jorge Martin recovered from a poor start to finish second and extend his lead in the standings to 31 points, while Marco Bezzecchi resisted a late attack from Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez to secure the final spot on the podium.

At the start of the race, Fernandez got the holeshot into Turn 1 from second on the grid, after polesitter Martin dropped the order with a stuck rear ride-height device.

Ai Ogura also lost positions early on the opening lap, allowing Bezzecchi to slot into second behind race leader Fernandez.

But before Bezzecchi could mount an attack, the Spaniard had already checked out of the chasing pack, building a lead of a second by the end of the opening lap.

Fernandez continued to pull away from the rest of the field, extending his advantage to three seconds in the first quarter of the race.

As Bezzecchi and a recovering Martin duelled for second, Fernandez continued to edge away, cementing his lead at the front.

It took until lap nine for Martin to pass his team-mate, by which time his countryman was already 4.5s up front.

Although the 2024 champion managed to bring the gap down to 3.5s, Fernandez never appeared to be at threat, cruising in the final laps to claim his second career victory and reignite his title challenge.

Bezzecchi’s podium position came under serious threat in the middle part of the race, as he struggled with pain on his comeback from Sachsering injuries.

Alex Marquez passed him for third on lap 9, only to tumble to sixth after a big scare at Copse on the following lap. Although he closed the gap to Bezzecchi again, the Italian impressed with his defence to hold on to the final spot on the podium.

The Gresini rider, hence, had to settle for fourth place, ahead of the top KTM of Pedro Acosta.

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio made a late pass on Marc Marquez to claim sixth, as the latter again struggled with tyre graining in the final stages of the race.

The top 10 was completed by Brad Binder (KTM) and Luca Marini (Honda), both riders progressing from lower down the order.

Fabio Quartararo led Yamaha’s charge in 13th a year on from his pole position and near-win at Silverstone.

It was a race of survival at the Northamptonshire track, with only 16 of 23 riders making it to the finish. The most high-profile retirement was Ogura, who hit the deck on lap nine in what was his first major mistake of 2026. The mistake has dropped him to third in the standings, behind Bezzecchi.

Francesco Bagnaia also tumbled out of the race, bringing a premature end to a tough weekend, while home hero Cal Crutchlow was another notable retiree.

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– The Autosport.com Team