Francesco Bagnaia fumes at MotoGP’s costly ‘mistake’ at the Thai Grand Prix

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Francesco Bagnaia is not enjoying a great start to the 2025 season at the Thai Grand Prix with the Ducati star having to go through Q1 after a frustrating practice session.

Buriram has welcomed the MotoGP field back to kick off the 2025 campaign just weeks after staging the second pre-season test. The Thai Grand Prix has also moved forward from its old late-year slot, with MotoGP last at Buriram when Bagnaia won from pole position in October.

Bagnaia was unbeatable in the 2024 Thai GP, as he took pole with a 0.232 second margin to then-teammate Enea Bastianini before beating title-rival Jorge Martin for the win by 2.905s. Martin stole the lead off the line, but Bagnaia bit back on Lap 4 of 26 and cruised to victory.

Yet Bagnaia must go through Q1 if the Ducati rider is to score back-to-back pole positions at Buriram having failed to automatically qualify for Q2 at the Thai GP. His frustration is even not only directed at Franco Morbidelli after the VR46 rider blocked Bagnaia late in practice.

Francesco Bagnaia fumes at MotoGP’s race control for costing him a Q2 slot at the Thai GP

Morbidelli blocked Bagnaia during practice at the Thai GP on Friday as the Ducati rider made his final bid for an automatic Q2 place. The VR46 star dawdled on the racing line into Turn 5, forcing his Italian compatriot to run off the track and abandon a chance to set a top-10 time.

Yet Bagnaia feels he should not have been in a position where he needed the lap Morbidelli ruined had MotoGP’s race control not incorrectly waved yellow flags earlier in practice. The 28-year-old’s 1:29.492 deleted lap would have seen him finish practice in P9 instead of P13.

Bagnaia told Sky Sports Italia: “I had done the time to be in the top 10 but it was cancelled due to a mistake by race direction, which put out yellow flags for no reason from Turn 8 to the last corner.”

READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number

The Ducati ace’s situation was then not helped by Morbidelli blocking Bagnaia on the racing line into Turn 5 as the Italian tried in vain to take an automatic Q2 place. Morbidelli was not the only rider cruising at the time but caused Bagnaia to run off as he was on the racing line.

“I got angry because there was no yellow flag,” Bagnaia continued. “There were three other riders who were going slowly. The problem is that he stayed on the line.”

What has Franco Morbidelli said about his incident with Pecco Bagnaia at Buriram?

Race direction handed Morbidelli with a three-place grid penalty for the Thai Grand Prix due to his incident with Bagnaia in practice. But, unlike the Ducati rider, the VR46 pilot sealed an automatic position in Q2. So, Morbidelli will start Sunday’s Thai GP from no lower than P15.

Bagnaia could face starting the Thai GP from P12, at best, should he fail to progress into Q2 and Morbidelli rank among the slowest of the 12 riders in the final part of qualifying before his penalty is applied. A penalty Morbidelli admits he warranted for a ‘dangerous’ situation.

“I accept the penalty, it was dangerous,” Morbidelli told Sky Sports Italia. “What happened is strange. The riders in front of us thought there were still yellow flags and slowed down a lot. When I arrived I slowed down, too, and didn’t move off the line.”