– Jack Miller from the Pramac team surprisingly made it directly into the Q2 segment of qualifying during Friday’s practice in Silverstone. From then on, he was the spearhead of the Yamaha camp throughout the entire MotoGP weekend of the British Grand Prix.
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After Miller’s strong Friday performance with P9 in practice, the best Yamaha results afterwards were: P11 for Miller in qualifying, P13 for Miller in the sprint, P12 for Miller in the Grand Prix. The Pramac rider from Australia was the highest-placed rider on one of the total five M1 bikes with V4 engine in all important sessions. In addition to the regular riders, Augusto Fernandez competed as a wildcard rider.
Especially Fabio Quartararo, usually the spearhead in the Yamaha lineup, struggled in Silverstone. Right on Friday, the 2021 MotoGP world champion complained of a “very bad feeling,” which he explained as follows: “I have great difficulty riding the motorcycle the way I imagine. I am totally tense on this bike.”
“Jack was fast,” said Quartararo referring to Miller on Friday, “but I myself was not able to go to the limit. I just tried to find a way to ride this motorcycle.” When asked where the limit of the 2026 Yamaha lies, the former world champion replied: “I don’t know. Here it almost looked like I was sitting on this motorcycle for the first time ever.”
“I couldn’t lean the bike and was therefore very slow in the corners. But exactly that, a good pace in the corners, is needed on a track like this. I couldn’t find it and was therefore extremely slow,” said Quartararo visibly frustrated on Friday.
An announced “big change” overnight did not bring a decisive improvement starting Saturday. In the Q1 segment of qualifying, Quartararo missed the subsequent Q2 entry by just 0.050 seconds as the third fastest behind Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati) and substitute rider Iker Lecuona (Gresini-Ducati). Starting from 13th place, Quartararo finished P14 in the sprint directly behind Miller.
In the Grand Prix, Quartararo again finished 13th directly behind Miller. However, the Yamaha factory rider from France was subsequently given a 16-second time penalty related to the tire pressure rule. The penalty dropped Quartararo to P16 in the official race result and thus outside the points positions.
To recall: In Silverstone 2025, Quartararo, then on the M1 with inline engine, led most of the Grand Prix from pole position until a defect in the rear ride-height device cost him the long-awaited first win since Sachsenring 2022. This year, on the M1 with V engine, he was miles away from both a pole-worthy speed in qualifying and leading laps in the race.
“When I compare my feeling from last year with my feeling this year, I realize that I am riding totally tense,” emphasized Quartararo after qualifying and the sprint on Saturday, confirming what he had already said after Friday’s practice. Addendum: “I just don’t have a good feeling. Honestly, though, this is not entirely unexpected.”
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“I just need something that we don’t have. But I also don’t want to have the setup completely changed every time, because whenever we do that, we are not faster afterwards either. I can’t do more than try to get the best out of the given conditions,” said the Frenchman, who will leave Yamaha for Honda at the end of the year.
The subsequent 16-second penalty for violating the tire pressure rule was the “crowning” moment of a thoroughly frustrating Silverstone weekend 2026 for Quartararo. According to the MotoGP race commissioners’ explanation, it was a technical inconsistency, not the rider’s fault. Below is the commissioners’ explanation of the penalty against Quartararo:
“On August 9, 2026, during the MotoGP race at the British Grand Prix, it was found that the tire pressure data of the mentioned rider was not transmitted correctly. After the race, the motorcycle was handed over for technical inspection.”
“During the inspection, it was found that the receiver on the motorcycle was not correctly configured to receive tire pressure data from the front tire sensor. The sensor ID was not recorded in the receiver’s database, which resulted in no actual data being recorded from the front tire during the race.”
“The use of tire pressure sensors (TAPS) on all wheels, front and rear, is mandatory in the MotoGP class, including continuous recording of TAPS data. According to the penalty protocol issued to the teams for MotoGP tire pressure, the corresponding penalty in this case is 16 seconds. It is added to the race result.”
Alex Rins, Quartararo’s teammate in the Yamaha factory team, did not get beyond P16 in the sprint. In the Grand Prix, he was involved in an incident with Joan Mir in the first lap. The Honda rider crashed and had to retire immediately. Rins also crashed but continued for a while before retiring shortly after.
In the Pramac team, MotoGP rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu was clearly in the shadow of teammate Jack Miller throughout the weekend. While the Australian was this time the Yamaha spearhead, Razgatlioglu only managed P22 in qualifying. Only wildcard starter Augusto Fernandez was slower.
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In the sprint, Razgatlioglu finished only P20 behind Fernandez, in the Grand Prix at least P14. The Sunday result for the rookie was partly due to seven of the 23 starters crashing and Quartararo being penalized.
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