Franco Morbidelli does his Yamaha teammate a big favour by pushing Bagnaia out of the Free Practice top 10
MotoGP™ World Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is going into Q1 after crashing late in FP3 at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia. Pecco was third-quickest when he had his spill but ended up being bumped out of the top 10 right at the end by none other than Franco Morbidelli, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ teammate of Bagnaia’s nearest rival, Fabio Quartararo. Adding more spice, Morbidelli and Bagnaia in fact set identical fastest lap times and had to be separated on respective second-fastest laps – and then there is the small matter of the Yamaha rider being under investigation for allegedly impeding Bagnaia just minutes earlier. Amid all of that, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) clocked a 1:58.583 around the Sepang International Circuit to top FP3, with Quartararo and fellow title contender Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) also through to Q2 already.
Bagnaia makes an early move
Bagnaia finished Friday in 11th position and therefore had to hope that the rain stayed away on Saturday morning for him to have any chance of escaping Q1. A dry track did indeed greet him and the other 23 riders, with the Ducati Lenovo Team sending both of its pilots out on new soft rear Michelin slicks. Bagnaia wasted no time in moving into the top 10 on his first flying lap, and then set a new fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:59.167, next time through.
Teammate Jack Miller took up second and Quartararo soon moved into third, positions they held until before they were dislodged by Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) clocking a 1:59.229 on the half-hour mark. Grey clouds loomed ominously in the distance, hastening the start of the time attacks for some, with Martin going slightly early to set a 1:58.583 and a previously in-danger Aleix Espargaro jumping to second with a 1:59.155 not too far behind him on the road.
Pecco involved in all manner of drama
The real drama was still to follow. Rain flags started to appear due to patchy falls around the track with four minutes to go, before Bagnaia had to bail out of a hot lap when he came up on a slow-moving Morbidelli at the Turn 5/Turn 6 complex. It also caused a scare for Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), who nearly shunted…