FERNANDEZ TO TEST BROKEN FINGERS IN MALAYSIAN GP PRACTICE

Raul Fernandez has been cleared to try riding at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but says his injured fingers feel worse than they did in Australia. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider will use Friday’s first practice session as a test, then decide with the doctor whether to continue. “After FP1 we will decide,” he said.

Fernandez fractured fingers in a crash at the first turn of the Indonesian Sprint. He raced the following day and finished second, revealing the extent of the injury only afterwards. He later withdrew from the Australian Grand Prix, where he had to retire from the Sprint after 10 of 13 laps. The tissue around the injury had become inflamed, and a check-up with Dr Nacho Gallego found no healing yet. “It’s worse than in Australia,” Fernandez said.

Despite that, he wants to get on the bike. “Now that I’m at the track, I want to ride,” he said. But he warned that pushing on could set back his recovery: “If I crash, I would be back at zero. I don’t want to do anything stupid and I need time to heal.”

The final two rounds in Portugal and Valencia are his priority. Fernandez said the team has already had too many podiums and strong race results this season for him to risk doing something that could prevent him from finishing it. He wants to end the campaign properly, and the decision on whether to ride beyond FP1 will depend on how his hand responds.

Sepang’s braking demands add to the concern. Fernandez noted that the Malaysian circuit has four or five very hard braking zones, compared with two at Phillip Island and Mandalika. “For sure it’s a different track and it doesn’t help me,” he said.

His focus is on recovery rather than Aprilia’s title fight with Jorge Martin. “I don’t care about the championship right now; I am really focused on recovering well the fingers,” Fernandez said.