Why a Malaysia GP DNF gave Bagnaia more answers than his Japan double win

Francesco Bagnaia says he left the Malaysian Grand Prix more encouraged than after his dominant double MotoGP win in Japan, as he and Ducati made tangible progress in understanding his recent performance swings.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia topped qualifying, won Saturday’s sprint from pole and ran third for much of the grand prix at Sepang - before retiring late on with a puncture.

Although the weekend marked a clear step forward from the previous two rounds where he failed to score, it was still short of his commanding form at Motegi, where he obliterated the competition to win both the sprint and the grand prix.

But while Bagnaia’s Japan success was down to suddenly having a bike that was working exactly to his liking, his Malaysian GP results were earned through hard work and gradual improvements.

Facing Q1 on Friday after being too slow to head out on track following a brief rain shower, Bagnaia and his Ducati crew delivered big gains overnight to claim a surprise pole position.

He then led every lap of the sprint on Saturday and looked set for another podium on Sunday, only for a late puncture to force him out of the race.

“Even if the points are less than Motegi, I'm leaving here with a more clear idea, right now,” he said after the race.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Asif Zubairi / Motorsport Network

“Here we worked [well] starting [the weekend with a] not good Friday. In Motegi, I was super confident that everything was fine, because finally I was feeling super fantastic on my bike, and it was strange because nobody knows why. We are giving some notice to the team and they are working on it to give us the same feeling for next year.

“Here, I arrived and the feeling was the same as the race in Phillip Island, so good but not ideal. We worked on it and finally we found something that was working a bit better, so we made the pole position, we won the sprint. 

“Today, we were fighting for the podium, maybe we were fighting for a victory, but surely it's a positive weekend.”

Bagnaia was among a small group of riders who opted for the less-favoured medium front tyre, compared to the soft option preferred by race winner Alex Marquez and second-placed Pedro Acosta. 

Bagnaia revealed that he started losing pace due to the puncture on lap 12, just before he lost second place to Acosta.

He explained that he was planning to mount a late attack before the tyre issue forced him to peel into the pits and retire on lap 18.

“I started to lose performance from one lap to another. We saw in the data that I had a puncture in lap 12,” he explained.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Asif Zubairi / Motorsport Network

“Then I did five more laps and without knowing why I was starting to slide much more, not controlling braking any more; I was going wide many times.

“It was strange because I was controlling the tyres a lot from the start. I was just doing the race like I did in Barcelona last year with the ‘24 [bike], when I let others go and then arrived at the last moment of the race [with more speed]. 

“I was just trying to do the same, but then Pedro overtook me. I started to struggle a lot more, I wasn't able to open full throttle till fifth gear and then I needed to stop.”

While other riders who ran the medium believed it had been the wrong choice, Bagnaia felt it still showed some potential - and could have put him in a strong position in the final laps.

“I cannot say [if it was the correct choice or not] because I thought I was managing the tyres well, and even if they were on the edge [and] I was losing it a bit, I was very strong on braking,” he said.

“So, I don't know if I would have arrived in the last part of the race with more potential than the soft. It's difficult to come to some conclusions.”

With Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi scoring five points with an 11th place finish, Bagnaia has dropped back to fourth place in the riders’ standings.