Francesco Bagnaia says Ducati are still ‘in trouble’ despite winning Malaysian Grand Prix Sprint

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Francesco Bagnaia’s perplexing MotoGP season continued as he won the Malaysian Grand Prix Sprint race on Saturday. Bagnaia dominated the 10-lap event after a surprise pole position.

Bagnaia progressed from Q1 to take pole and held the lead throughout the Sprint despite some early pressure from Gresini’s Alex Marquez. His eventual winning margin was just under 2.3 seconds.

The Italian’s last four Sprint results rather tell the story of his campaign – two victories, two non-scores. At the same stage of the Australian GP seven days ago, Bagnaia was almost lapping at Moto2 pace.

Nobody seems to know why the two-time world champion’s evident speed has disappeared so often. The hope is that Sepang marks a breakthrough, but that has been said countless times this season.

Francesco Bagnaia says ‘no-one’ has ever faced the problems he has at Ducati

Speaking on the world feed moments after the race, Bagnaia offered a markedly measured assessment. When asked if he was ‘back’, he refused to answer.

He was clear that both he and Ducati will remain in ‘trouble’ until they settle on a lasting solution to his problems on the GP25. Just 24 hours earlier, Bagnaia was 12th in practice, albeit after weather-related interruptions.

The 28-year-old says ‘no-one in the past’ has faced such a confusing situation. Bagnaia is now one of only two riders (alongside absent world champion Marc Marquez) to win multiple Grands Prix and multiple Sprints this year.

• READ MORE: MotoGP Sprint race results as Francesco Bagnaia wins in Malaysia ahead of Alex Marquez

“I’m in trouble, but they are in trouble too,” he said of his team. “It’s not easy to understand the situation. One week ago we were struggling. Yesterday, I was struggling a bit. Today, I’m competitive.

“We just have to figure it out. No-one in the past ever felt something like this, so we just need to focus and try to work like we did this weekend. I’m trying something different that, right now, is giving me more feeling.”

What Davide Tardozzi said about Pecco Bagnaia’s Sepang breakthrough

Speaking to TNT Sports before the Sprint, Davide Tardozzi put Bagnaia’s progress down to improved grip. This track is regularly used for MotoGP testing.

But Tardozzi’s comments do suggest that the step forward could be circuit-specific. He will face less ‘friendly’ venues than Malaysia.

“Obviously not!” he laughed when asked to explain what Ducati had discovered on Bagnaia’s bike. “We found a good setup, but this race track has very good grip.

“Pecco was struggling a lot in the last two races with the grip and the confidence on the front. The bike was shaking a lot because of the small holes of Phillip Island.

“Finally, we finally found something here. The race track is a friendly race track for him, and that’s why it works.”

Bagnaia says he benefited from Q1 because it gave him more knowledge and more time to hone his set-up. He also took pole at the Czech GP despite missing out on automatic Q2 passage.