The Silverstone Eleven: the group of MotoGP riders who make up a special record
03 August 2026For the last eleven years that MotoGP has had a Grand Prix at Silverstone, a different rider has won, creating the group of riders referred to as ‘The Silverstone Eleven’. From total domination, to last-lap overtaking masterclasses, MotoGP at Silverstone has produced exhilarating racing and truly unpredictable results.
Ahead of MotoGP’s return to Silverstone next week for the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Great Britain, we’re taking a look at the eleven riders that make up this incredible record, and how they achieved their place in history.
2013 - Jorge Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo is the only MotoGP rider to have secured back-to-back Grand Prix victories at Silverstone, and his 2013 victory at the Hertz British Grand Prix marks the starting point of the Silverstone Eleven's unbelievable record.
MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez had won the four previous Grands Prix prior to MotoGP heading to Silverstone for the 2013 Hertz British Grand Prix, and had snagged pole position, but was riding with an injury after a crash in Sunday’s warm-up session. However Jorge Lorenzo got a brilliant start from 2nd on the grid, and led for much of the race, with Marquez following closely behind. With three laps to go, Lorenzo went from leader to chaser as Marquez made his first move, and the closing laps saw the two riders exchanging positions. With Marquez leading in the final sector, it looked like the win was his, until Lorenzo went up the inside at Luffield and took the lead back, beating Marquez in a drag to the line by 0.081s.
2014 - Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez was a force to be reckoned with in 2014, having won ten of the eleven rounds of the season prior to heading to Silverstone for the Hertz British Grand Prix, and securing pole position made the Championship leader the clear favourite to take the win. Although Lorenzo got another great start, Marquez was once again riding with him, with the intense battling between the two riders starting earlier in the race. With three laps remaining, Marquez made the decisive move, and began building a gap back to Lorenzo in 2nd. Whilst a moment on the penultimate lap brought that gap down, it wasn’t enough to give Lorenzo another chance to fight back, with Marquez crossing the line 0.732s ahead of Lorenzo, and making it eleven victories in twelve Grands Prix.
2015 - Valentino Rossi
The weather played a huge role in the Octo British Grand Prix back in 2015, which began with the two Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo tied on 211 points at the top of the Championship standings. The Grand Prix was initially declared a dry race, as rain spitting down during the build-up wasn’t deemed significant enough. By the warm up lap though, riders found themselves tiptoeing around the circuit with the rain getting heavier, before all 25 riders rode into pit lane to swap to their wet set-up bikes, causing an aborted start as it was deemed unsafe for every rider to start from pit lane. After taking the lead on Lap 2 of the restarted race, Rossi managed the conditions well to maintain his position at the front and win by 3.010s, after Marquez crashed out of 2nd with 8 laps to go, giving Rossi the breathing room to ride his way to his first MotoGP victory at Silverstone.
2016 - Maverick Viñales
Maverick Viñales became the seventh different winner of the 2016 season after taking a landmark win at the Octo British Grand Prix. With the initial race being red-flagged due to an incident involving Pol Espargaro and Loris Baz. Viñales quickly made his way past Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow after the restart, and rode brilliantly to lead the field for the rest of the race, finishing 3.480s ahead of Crutchlow in 2nd, to take his first MotoGP Grand Prix victory, and Suzuki’s first MotoGP win since Chris Vermeulen won the French Grand Prix in 2007.
2017 - Andrea Dovizioso
Warm weather on Sunday in 2017 meant that the choice of tyres, and how well each rider could manage their tyres throughout the 20 lap race, were likely to be a determining factor for the Octo British Grand Prix, and Andrea Dovizioso absolutely rose to the challenge.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi led for much of the race, but the manufacturer’s struggle with grip in the latter parts of races was a well-known issue. Dovizioso fought his way up to 2nd, and began hunting Rossi down, managing his tyres well throughout those laps, whilst Rossi began struggling. With three laps to go, Dovizioso passed Rossi into Stowe, and fended off a late charge from Maverick Viñales to secure his fourth win of the season, and Ducati’s first MotoGP win at Silverstone.
2019 - Alex Rins
The GoPro British Grand Prix gave us arguably one of the most iconic last lap victories in the modern MotoGP era, as Alex Rins beat Marc Marquez to the chequered flag by just 0.013s. In a thrilling close to the race that had seen Rins and Marquez battling for the lead, Marquez defended well, and his victory looked likely as Rins was running out of time to make a final attempt at securing victory. Then came the final corners of the race - Rins looked as though he was setting himself up to go around the outside of Marquez at Luffield, but he instead took a wide sweeping line, giving him the drive to move up the inside of Marquez coming out of Woodcote, utilising Suzuki’s incredible corner speed with a move nobody saw coming, as Rins took an incredibly close victory.
2021 - Fabio Quartararo
His strong pace across the weekend meant that despite qualifying 3rd, Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was many people’s favourite going into the 2021 Monster Energy British Grand Prix. With 16 laps to go, Quartararo took the lead from Pol Espargaro, and just one lap later, had a gap of 1.007s back to 2nd. As battles continued behind him, Quartararo’s solid race pace continued, and he crossed the line 2.663 seconds ahead of Rins, becoming the seventh different winner in the last seven Grands Prix at Silverstone, in a race that saw all six manufacturers represented in the top six race finishers for the first time since 1972.
2022 - Francesco Bagnaia
Francesco Bagnaia’s first MotoGP title-winning season included a strong weekend at the 2022 Monster Energy British Grand Prix, as he fought through the field to take his first MotoGP win at Silverstone. Despite Maverick Viñales being eager to replicate his 2016 success, as he battled with Bagnaia for the victory in the penultimate lap, running wide several times during the final lap gave Bagnaia the space he needed to secure the win, taking the chequered flag 0.426s ahead of Viñales, in a race that was at the time the second closest top ten finishers in the premier class (6.646s).
2023 - Aleix Espargaro
Aleix Espargaro proved to everyone during the 2023 Monster Energy British Grand Prix that not only do you not need to be on pole, you don’t even need to be on the front two rows to be victorious at Silverstone in MotoGP. Having qualified 12th, Espargaro was considered to be out of the running for the win by many, despite his confidence that he had the package to be competitive and challenge for the victory. Pushing hard throughout the race, Espargaro navigated his way past riders, and set the fastest lap with 13 laps to go. Slight rainfall added to the drama as riders towards the back of the field decided to roll the dice and swap to their wet set-up bikes, but the level of rain meant this was a move that didn’t play off, and the riders at the front were smart to stay out on their current set ups. It wasn’t until the final lap that Espargaro took the lead from Bagnaia, but once he’d made the move, Bagnaia couldn’t fight back, and Espargaro took the win by 0.215s, his second MotoGP Grand Prix victory, and his goal of Silverstone success finally achieved.
2024 - Enea Bastianini
The 2024 Monster Energy British Grand Prix is the only MotoGP weekend at Silverstone where we’ve seen the same rider take the win in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix at Silverstone in the same weekend, and Enea Bastianini achieved this in spectacular style. Riding in retro liveries to celebrate 75 years of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing, the race looked to be emerging into a battle between the two main Championship contenders, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin. Bastianini, referred to by many as the ‘tyre whisperer’ began rapidly closing in on the leading duo in the latter half of the race, passing Bagnaia as his pace dropped with 7 laps to go, before setting his sights on Martin and the victory. With two laps remaining, Martin ran wide, allowing Bastianini through to take the lead, and by the beginning of the final lap, the new leader had already built up a stunning gap of 0.780s back to 2nd, eventually crossing the line to take the victory and securing the double win across the weekend, 1.931s ahead of Martin.
2025 - Marco Bezzecchi
Last year’s Tissot Grand Prix of the United Kingdom brought us plenty of drama, along with another new winner, as Marco Bezzecchi took his first MotoGP Grand Prix win with Aprilia Racing. With the original race red-flagged due to oil on the track after an incident between Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro, the race was restarted with a reduced race distance of 19 laps, with all riders eligible to restart, including the two Marquez brothers who had crashed in separate incidents prior to the red flags being brought out.
The restart saw Fabio Quartararo get a fantastic start from his third consecutive pole position, and was away, at one point leading with a gap over 4.5s, aiming for his first Grand Prix victory since 2022. However disaster struck for Quartararo on Lap 12, as an issue with his rear ride height device forced him to retire. This handed the lead to Marco Bezzecchi, who rode confidently for the remaining laps to take his first win with Aprilia with a 4.088s lead, 609 days since his last MotoGP Grand Prix victory, becoming rider number eleven of this unbelievable record.
With eight of the riders featured in this list still riding full-time in MotoGP, it’s possible that the record will come to an end at Silverstone this year. But the 2026 season so far has produced winners and stand-out performers who will all no doubt be keen to fight for their first Silverstone MotoGP Grand Prix win, and have their name added to the history books.
