The Honda rider had been in control for much of the first session of the Silverstone weekend but brought FP1 to a premature end when he tucked the front of his RC213V on the entry to the fast Maggotts left-hander and his wrecked bike ended up in the middle of the track.
Marquez walked away from the incident, but with only 1m57s left on the clock and a vast clean-up operation needed to be had on track he would not be knocked off top spot when the session restarted to allow riders to complete some practice starts.
Maverick Vinales’ ousting from the factory Yamaha squad last week means British fans have two home riders to cheer on this weekend in the form of Cal Crutchlow at the factory Yamaha squad and debutant Jake Dixon at Petronas SRT – who is taking over from Crutchlow in replacing the injured Franco Morbidelli.
Marquez set the early benchmark pace at a 2m05.208s, though was quickly usurped by championship leader Fabio Quartararo with a 1m03.147s.
The Yamaha rider improved on his following tour to a 2m02.646s, before Marquez returned to the top of the order just over 10 minutes into the 45-minute session with a 2m02.281s.
Quartararo and Marquez continued to trade fastest laps over the next 15 minutes, with Pramac’s Johann Zarco on his works Ducati also serving a brief stint at the top of the pile.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
With half an hour of the session remaining, Marquez stood at the top of the order with a 2m01.135s, which he would improve on to a 2m01.020s 15 minutes later.
Marquez’s annexation of top spot in FP1 continued into the final 10 minutes when he dipped underneath the 2m01s for the first time, firing in a 2m00.941s to extend his advantage at the head of the pack to 0.360 seconds.
In the closing stages some time attacks were put in, but Marquez’s crash at Maggotts meant no more improvements would be had in FP1.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro claimed second with a 2m01.191s, with Quartararo completing the top three ahead of the sister works team Honda of Pol Espargaro.
Ducati’s Jack Miller rounded out the top five ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, with 2019 Silverstone winner Alex Rins the leading Suzuki rider in seventh from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, Zarco and LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez – who had a crash at Farm curve midway through FP1.
Crutchlow ended his first session as a factory Yamaha rider 1.025s off the pace in 12th between Tech3’s Danilo Petrucci and Pramac rookie Jorge Martin – who also had a crash at Farm.
Martin headed two more Silverstone debutants in Styrian GP winner Brad Binder on the KTM and reigning world champion Joan Mir, with the Suzuki rider not racing at the British venue since his Moto3 days in 2017.
Valentino Rossi ran as high as third at one point of FP1, but was shuffled down to 17th on his Petronas SRT Yamaha, with team-mate Jake Dixon 2.9s off the pace in 21st ahead of the returning Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori after breaking his ankle in his fiery Styrian GP crash.
British MotoGP – FP1 results
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