– With pole position, the sprint win, and second place in the British Grand Prix, Jorge Martin extended his lead in the World Championship to 31 points. After the Silverstone weekend, his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi is second in the championship.
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For Martin, however, it is much more important that he has found a good setup and feeling for his RS-GP again: “That was more important to me than the result: to find my feeling again, to find my speed again.”
“We have come out of the hole we were in to some extent, and that naturally gives us a lot of motivation. I have full confidence in my team and in myself.”
“I knew it was only a matter of time before we would get out of this situation. But just because we won [the sprint] now in Silverstone doesn’t suddenly mean everything is fine.”
“We have to confirm that in the next races,” says Martin, because the Silverstone track layout suits the Aprilia better than the Ducati. In two weeks, Aragon will show whether Martin can confirm this performance.
Martin won the sprint with a new aerodynamics package at the rear. Otherwise, his base setup corresponds again to that of Le Mans, where he won the sprint and the Grand Prix.
“It’s the same bike we used in Le Mans,” confirms Martin. “Of course, we now have some new parts that you can see on the aerodynamics. But the setup is at the same level as in Le Mans.”
What happened at the start with the Ride-Height System
In the Grand Prix, the Spaniard lost the duel against Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) in the first corner, who was able to overtake on the inside. As Martin leaned into the corners, sparks flew.
This showed that his ride-height device on the rear shock absorber was not deactivated. “I didn’t have a particularly good start, or rather: Raul had a clearly better start than me. I could hear his bike.”
“Then we went into the first corner, and I just wanted to keep the first position, so I didn’t brake. I didn’t brake hard enough, so my rear ride-height system didn’t come back up.”
“That’s just how it is. Then I went left, Marc overtook me, and I lost quite a bit of time because of that. But I think it was more my fault because I really wanted to keep the lead instead of braking a little.”
“Then I might have had the chance to be behind Raul in second place, but I was too optimistic.” Martin finished the first lap in third place. Only in lap nine was he able to overtake Bezzecchi.
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Martin was too conservative behind Fernandez
At this point, Fernandez led with a gap of 4.4 seconds. Only in the last quarter of the race did Martin get closer. Before the last lap, the gap between the two Aprilia riders was 2.5 seconds.
“When I was second, Raul already had about a five-second lead,” says Martin about his chase. “So I just tried to bring my pace to the track.”
“In some laps, I saw that I was getting closer and closer to him, so I thought he might slow down. But he managed that incredibly well.”
“I definitely thought more about attacking than defending second place. We paid very close attention to tire wear and tried to save the tires all weekend.”
“We ran with low power, and I think we overdid it. In the last three laps, I pushed the tire harder, and the tire was still there. Honestly, we were too conservative.”
“The most important thing for me is that I am really consistent and fast again. Regardless of the result, it is crucial that we are competitive again. That is the most important thing, and we can fight in the next race.”
How Martin assesses his World Championship lead
A maximum of 37 World Championship points can be collected at a race weekend. Martin’s lead of 31 points is already a relatively comfortable cushion. How does he handle this situation compared to his 2024 World Championship season?
“Good question. For me, it is not really important now whether I am first, second, or whatever. I just try to constantly improve. I always think about how I can improve and get better.”
“If I have the chance to fight for the title, that is good enough for me. Two years ago, I was almost obsessed with always being at the front and taking the lead. But honestly, that costs a lot of energy.”
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“Now I don’t focus on the result but on becoming a better athlete and a better Jorge. The consequence of that is that we do the right things and I lead the championship.”
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