Here's the thing, as Motorsport.com reports: Francesco Bagnaia's Friday at the Malaysian Grand Prix did not go to plan at all. The Ducati Team rider failed to make it directly into Q2, calling his current situation "ridiculous" after a difficult opening day of track action at Sepang.
Now, the double world champion came into this weekend with genuine confidence, despite having already missed the Friday cut 10 times in 2026. His history at this circuit is brilliant, having shown immense pace even through the horrors of his 2025 campaign where he won the sprint race from pole. But that good record counted for nothing once the machine hit the tarmac.
So this is the main thing to understand, but more or less all the season it has been like this.
With just minutes remaining in the practice session and sitting outside the critical top 10, Bagnaia pushed to make the cut and promptly crashed at Turn 1. That fall was not where the real damage was done, however. The machine simply refuses to turn. "My bike works only when it's straight, so I did the maximum in the first and last sector," he reported. He was second-quickest in sector one and third-quickest in sector four, leading the Borgo Panigale contingent on the top-speed charts.
Unfortunately, the rest of the lap was a disaster. In the other two sectors he drops eight tenths, which makes the deficit completely absurd. When looking at his 'ideal lap time' by combining his best sectors, the math confirms he simply had no more pace to squeeze out, finishing the day exactly where that theoretical lap placed him: 12th position.
Bagnaia was not in a chatty mood after the session either. When asked about the performance of different aero options, his response was blunt: "To feel something, you need to have a feeling on the bike."
That said, he refused to blame the slippery track conditions. Sepang hosted a Formula 1 race earlier this month and was meant to be resurfaced before this weekend, but the materials never arrived. Bagnaia noted the track feels just like it did in pre-season testing, but insisted the real issue lies elsewhere. "My feeling on the bike is completely different," he said. "So this is the main thing to understand, but more or less all the season it has been like this."
