Can the different winner streak continue at Silverstone?

In the last seven races at the British Grand Prix, we’ve been treated to some stunning action. So much so that since 2013, a different winner has emerged at Silverstone and in 2022, the chances of an eighth surfacing are high.

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Jorge Lorenzo was the winner in that all-time classic battle with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in 2013, before the latter went on to win a year later in 2014. Valentino Rossi mastered the rain in 2015 to claim his first win at Silverstone before Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) won his first premier class race with Suzuki in 2016. The stakes were high in 2017 and it was title-chasing Andrea Dovizioso (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team) who edged out Viñales for victory that year, while a couple of years later in 2019, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) pipped Marc Marquez to the line. And of course, last year, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) stormed to a dominant win on his way to the title.

Quartararo comes into the weekend as the World Championship leader, and naturally – after his win last year and the layout suiting Yamaha’s YZR-M1 to the ground – he starts the weekend as a strong candidate for the 25 points. But the Frenchman has a Long Lap penalty hanging over his head from his crash in Assen that punted Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) into the gravel. A factor that could be race-defining.

Espargaro heads to Silverstone with a 21-point deficit to Quartararo after his heroic comeback in the Netherlands. The 2021 British GP was a historic moment for the Spaniard and Aprilia as a P3 earned the Noale factory a first podium in the MotoGP™ era, and with an all-guns-blazing RS-GP to hand in 2022, Espargaro might not even need Quartararo’s Long Lap penalty to beat his title rival. If either of these two aren’t at the sharp end, then it would be a significant shock. And arguably, Espargaro is the leading candidate to make it eight different winners in a row.

If it weren’t for tyre woes in 2021’s encounter, then Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) would have had a much better day at the office. Anything remotely similar to a P14 this year, depending on what Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro do, makes Pecco’s Championship aspirations an even higher mountain to climb. A result like that is unlikely for the Dutch TT winner though and having qualified second at Silverstone last year, the Italian lands in the United Kingdom as one of the pre-race favourites too. 66 points is the gap between Pecco and Quartararo with nine races left to contest; the Italian knows that beating El Diablo is now a must.

Other candidates to make it eight in a row? Three-time 2021 winner Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) needs a podium return if he’s to reignite a Championship fight, while fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) was narrowly beaten to a podium in last year’s event by Aleix Espargaro. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) would love a return to the top step for the first time since the 2020 European GP, the GSX-RR typically enjoys the fast, flowing nature of Silverstone. Third in the Championship Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) is still waiting for his first win in the premier class, can this weekend see the return of the backflip? 

And that’s just naming four. In truth, there’s a handful of riders you could throw into the hat and make a solid case for. What we do know is that like in years gone by, we can expect a phenomenal British Grand Prix.