The Austrian GP, milestones and the season so far...
- The 'Doctor', Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), is set to make his 300th premier class start at Silverstone - becoming the first rider in history to do so!
- Even though Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez extended his lead at the head of the Championship, the MotoGP™ title chase is still the closest top five at this stage of the season since the current scoring system was introduced in 1993. Just 35 points cover the top five riders in the Championship classification after eleven races, compared to the previous closest, which was 68 points in both 2006 and 2000.
- The second place finish for Marquez in Austria was the fifth successive race he has finished on the podium. He has not finished on the podium at six successive races since 2014. The second place at the Red Bull Ring was also the 58th time that Marquez has stood on the podium in the MotoGP™ class – the same number of premier-class podiums that Max Biaggi achieved.
- Following his win at the Red Bull Ring, Andrea Dovizioso has scored a total of 158 points from the opening eleven races of 2017; this is the highest score by a Ducati Team rider after eleven races since Casey Stoner had a total of 187 points in 2008.
- With his win in Austria, Dovizioso joins an elite group of riders who have won three or more premier class Grands Prix in a single season during the MotoGP™ era. The other nine riders who have done this are: Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi, Maverick Viñales and Marco Melandri.
- Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Viñales dropped down to third in the Championship classification following his 6th place finish in Austria, the first time this year that he has not held one of the top two places in the Championship.
- Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa has finished on the podium seven times in the last nine races; his previous seven podium finishes had been achieved from his previous 22 starts.
- At the Red Bull Ring, Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was the first Yamaha rider across the line for the third time in 2017. With his fifth place finish in Austria he extended his lead in the rookie classification to 22 points over his teammate Jonas Folger, who was forced to retire.
- For the first time since 2010, three different manufacturers have taken three or more wins in the same season. The last time that three manufacturers took four or more wins in the same season was in 2006 (the manufacturers in all cases mentioned are Honda, Yamaha and Ducati).
- At the British Grand Prix, Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) is scheduled to become the 13th rider in history to reach the milestone of 250 Grand Prix starts.
- Red Bull KTM Factory Racing test rider Mika Kallio finished 10th in Austria, with a gap of just 19.766 seconds to race winner Dovizioso – the smallest margin so far that a KTM rider has had to the race winner.
And racing history at the British GP...
- This is the eighth year that Silverstone has played host since the series returned to the circuit in 2010 after a gap of 23 years.
- The first motorcycle Grand Prix event to be held at Silverstone in 1977 was also the first to be held on the British mainland; prior to 1977 the British round of the World Championship had been held since 1949 on the 37.73mile long Isle of Man TT circuit.
- The winners at that first Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1977 were: 500cc – Pat Hennen (Suzuki), 350cc & 250cc – Kork Ballington (Yamaha), 125cc - Pierluigi Conforti (Morbidelli).
- The British Grand Prix was held for ten successive years at the Silverstone circuit, before the event moved to Donington Park in 1987. The British GP returned to Silverstone in 2010 with a revised circuit layout measuring 5.9 km.
- Kork Ballington and Angel Nieto are the two riders with most GP victories at Silverstone, each having won there on six occasions.
- The only three riders who have had more than a single victory at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are (Ducati Team), Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP™ race there three times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP™ race in 2014; Viñales won the Moto3™ race in 2012 and the MotoGP™ race last year.
- Before LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow’s second place finish last year, the last British rider to be on the podium in the premier class at the British Grand Prix was Jeremy McWilliams when he finished third in the 500cc race at Donington in 2000.
- Yamaha have won four of the seven MotoGP™ races that have taken place at Silverstone, the last of which was two years ago with Valentino Rossi.
- Honda have had two MotoGP™ victories at Silverstone, with Casey Stoner in 2011 and Marc Marquez in 2014.
- Last year at Silverstone Maverick Viñales gave Suzuki their first MotoGP™ win since Le Mans in 2007 when Chris Vermeulen won in the wet. This was also the first podium finish at Silverstone in the MotoGP™ era for Suzuki and the first win for Suzuki at Silverstone since Franco Uncini won the 500cc race at the British GP in 1982.
- The only podium finishes for Ducati at Silverstone came in 2015 – a second place finish for Danilo Petrucci and third for Andrea Dovizioso.
- Three British riders have won a solo Grand Prix race at Silverstone; Danny Kent won the Moto3™ race in 2015, Scott Redding won the Moto2™ race in 2013 and Ian McConnachie won in the 80cc class back in 1986.
- Only three British riders have started from pole at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes; Barry Sheene in the 500cc class in 1977, Sam Lowes in Moto2™ in 2015 & 2016, and Cal Crutchlow in MotoGP™ last year.