The first 45-minute session of the Aragon weekend was delayed by over half an hour due to the extremely low temperatures, as Michelin tires need at least around 12 degrees on the track for the compounds to work safely.
When the session finally began, KTM’s Pol Espargaro set the first reasonable lap time with 1: 51.032 minutes before championship leader Quartararo on the Petronas SRT Yamaha was ahead with 1: 51.005 minutes.
Quartararo, who leads the overall standings by 10 points over Suzuki’s Joan Mir, then improved to 1: 50.677 minutes, which was the benchmark for about six minutes, before teammate Franco Morbidelli delivered a 1: 50.533 minutes.
The Italian continued to improve to 1: 50.433 minutes, although his training session was interrupted in the last 10 minutes when he crashed into Turn 14 on the right hand corner.
The cool and windy conditions would overtake a number of riders, with Avintias Johann Zarco being the first to be bitten by the cold when he wrecked one of his Ducatis at Turn 14 10 minutes into the session.
Tech3 rookies Alex Marquez (Honda) and Iker Lecuona – who briefly topped the timesheet at the beginning of the session – also went on excursions into the gravel pits at Turn 2.
About 10 minutes after Morbidelli climbed to the top of the overall standings, Vinales – on the only works team, Yamaha, after Valentino Rossi dropped out with COVID-19 – put him under 1: 50s of the session with the first lap, a 1: 49.866s, away.
Due to the conditions and the promise of better conditions that afternoon, few went out for a soft tire time attack at the end of FP1, which meant that Vinales would go unchallenged to the checkered flag.
Despite his fall, Morbidelli held second place in front of his teammate Quartararo, who hobbled away at Turn 8 after a fall at the end of the session.
Marquez jumped to fourth place in 1: 50.176 seconds despite his earlier fall and finished FP1 in fourth place ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Mir’s Suzuki.
Pol Espargaro finished seventh on the leading KTM from Cal Crutchlow’s sister LCR bike, while Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia completed the top 10.
Last year’s Moto2 race winner in Aragon, Brad Binder, finished 11th on his KTM, while Jack Miller was the leading Ducati runner on the Pramac GP20 with a time of 1: 51.219 minutes.
All Ducati runners had a cautious FP1, with Le Mans winner Danilo Petrucci in 15th, team-mate Andrea Dovizioso in 17th and Pramacs Francesco Bagnaia in 21st behind Zarco.
MotoGP Aragon GP FP1 results
| Item | driver | team | bicycle | gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m49.866s |
| 2 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.085s |
| 3 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.276s |
| 4th | Alex Marquez | Honda | Honda | 0.310s |
| 5 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.554s |
| 6th | Joan Mir | Suzuki | Suzuki | 0.559s |
| 7th | Pol Espargaro | KTM | KTM | 0.598s |
| 8th | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.732s |
| 9 | Alex kidneys | Suzuki | Suzuki | 0.855s |
| 10 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | Aprilia | 0.935s |
| 11 | Brad Binder | KTM | KTM | 1.107s |
| 12th | Jack Miller | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 1.353s |
| 13th | Iker Lecuona | Tech3 KTM | KTM | 1.375s |
| 14th | Stefan Bradl | Honda | Honda | 1.419s |
| fifteen | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | Ducati | 1.474s |
| 16 | Miguel Oliveira | Tech3 KTM | KTM | 1.491s |
| 17th | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 1.542s |
| 18th | Bradley Smith | Aprilia | Aprilia | 1.576s |
| 19th | Tito Rabat | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 1.715s |
| 20th | Johann Zarco | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 1.941s |
| 21 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 2.068s |