BAGNAIA SAYS RAIN HELPED HIM MANAGE SEVERE TYRE WEAR IN SEPANG SPRINT

Pecco Bagnaia left the Malaysian Grand Prix sprint with a sixth-place finish, but said intermittent rain helped him salvage the result after his rear tyre began to fade almost immediately.

The Ducati rider started 10th after progressing through Q1, a marked contrast with last year at Sepang, when he took pole by the same route and won the sprint. This time he finished 8.3 seconds behind the leader in the 10-lap race. Bagnaia had hoped for more, given his strong record at the circuit, but said the tyre problem made it difficult to stay with the riders ahead.

“I was lucky the rain started falling because on the third lap I ran out of rear tyre and had to row the impossible,” he told Sky Italy. He said a strong launch and first braking point initially helped him move forward, but he could not maintain the pace. Trying to follow the leading group, he ran wide and used the rear tyre far faster than expected. Sixth, he added, was still an improvement on his recent results, and the team would work to understand the issue.

Bagnaia believes the problem is visible in the data: compared with the other Ducati riders, his rear tyre begins sliding as soon as he leans into a corner and continues to spin until the bike is upright. He described it as a “total lack of grip” that prevents him from riding as he wants and causes excessive wear. Sepang’s many long, leaned-over corners make the weakness especially costly, he said; a tyre that lasts longer for other riders can be spent in just three laps on his bike.

The result did little to suggest an end to Bagnaia’s winless run, which stretches back to last year’s Japanese Grand Prix. Asked about still holding the Sepang lap record from 2024, he said it was no longer relevant. “I know exactly what I'm capable of, and I demonstrated it last year in Japan,” he said. “After that, we know we're not in a position to do the same.”