British MotoGP

Roads older than the championship itself; the TT gave world title racing its backbone before the ink was dry.

The FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Championship launched in 1949, with the Isle of Man TT serving as the British round. The TT had been running since 1907 on public roads around the island, and its inclusion gave the fledgling championship instant credibility. For nearly three decades, the mountain course was where riders came to prove themselves against the most dangerous circuit in the world.

The first American to win a premier-class Grand Prix did so at Silverstone, the very circuit that replaced a public road course on safety grounds.

Growing safety concerns over the Isle of Man TT's public road course led to the British round relocating to Silverstone in 1977. Pat Hennen won the inaugural 500cc race at the Northamptonshire circuit, becoming the first American to win a premier-class Grand Prix. The move to a purpose-built facility marked a turning point for the sport's safety standards in Britain.

Donington held the British MotoGP race for more than twenty years; Silverstone's decade in charge barely gets a look-in by comparison.

After a decade at Silverstone, the British Grand Prix shifted to Donington Park in Leicestershire. The undulating, tree-lined circuit offered a very different character: tighter, more technical, and with natural elevation changes that rewarded brave riding. Donington would host the round for over two decades, becoming synonymous with British motorcycle racing through the late 1980s and 1990s.

Eight British victories. No other rider in the race's history has come close.

Valentino Rossi claimed his first British Grand Prix victory at Donington Park in 2002, riding for Repsol Honda. It was the start of a remarkable run. The Italian would go on to win the British round eight times across his career, more than any other rider in the round's history. His flair, showmanship, and sheer speed made the British GP one of the highlights of his season, and fans turned out in enormous numbers to watch him.

Silverstone's return to the MotoGP calendar in 2010, following Donington's failed redevelopment, gave Lorenzo the stage for a winning debut at the upgraded circuit.

After Donington Park's ambitious redevelopment plans collapsed, the British Grand Prix returned to Silverstone in 2010. Jorge Lorenzo won the first MotoGP race at the circuit, which had undergone significant upgrades of its own. The longer, faster layout suited the prototype machines, and the move brought the round closer to the infrastructure and hospitality facilities that a modern Grand Prix demands.

Thirty-five years of waiting ended at Silverstone the moment Crutchlow crossed the line.

Cal Crutchlow became the first British rider to win the British MotoGP since Barry Sheene in 1981, taking victory for LCR Honda in changeable conditions. It was a result that electrified the Silverstone crowd. Crutchlow had already broken through with a win at Brno two weeks earlier, but doing it on home soil, in front of a partisan crowd, cemented his place in British motorcycle racing history.

Silverstone's place on the MotoGP calendar is secured by a fresh multi-year deal, welcome news after cancellations in 2018 and 2020 left the British round in doubt.

After the 2020 race was cancelled due to COVID-19, MotoGP returned to Silverstone in 2021. The meeting had been absent from the 2018 calendar too, when persistent rain forced a late cancellation. A new multi-year agreement secured the circuit's future as the home of the British Grand Prix, providing stability after years of uncertainty. Jake Dixon and Sam Lowes flew the flag for British riders in the lower classes.

Two competitive races in a single weekend; Silverstone now delivers twice the spectacle it once promised.

The 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone featured the now-established Sprint race format, introduced to MotoGP in 2023. Saturday's shorter race adds a second competitive outing and has transformed the weekend into a two-day spectacle. Enea Bastianini won the 2024 main race for Ducati, while the meeting continued to draw huge crowds to the Northamptonshire circuit, confirming its status as one of the best-attended rounds on the calendar.