Strong Start for Bagnaia – 2nd Fastest in Qatar GP Practice: “Turning Has Improved Thanks to Setup Changes” – MotoGP 2025
Francesco Bagnaia began his Qatar GP weekend on a high note, finishing second in the first practice session. He reported a positive feeling with the bike and pace from the outset and expressed satisfaction with the initial work done by the team. Despite still evaluating rear tire options, Bagnaia is optimistic about both qualifying and race conditions.
Francesco Bagnaia:
“The feeling is good, and we’ve been working well from the start. FP1 went well, though there are still things to improve. The pace and the feeling with the tire compounds are positive. I’m not yet sure which rear tire is best for the Sprint, so I’ll watch how the other categories perform and decide from there.”
“Grip is improving, and the turning performance has gotten better thanks to the setup changes we made. Even though the temperatures will rise tomorrow, I think the tires will still work fine in qualifying.”
Bagnaia also revealed that he made a mistake in Turn 15 during his fastest lap—but even so, he managed to set a record time. With that in mind, he’s hopeful of breaking the record again in qualifying.
“I made a mistake in Turn 15 today, but it was still a record lap. I think we can break the record tomorrow in qualifying. Considering we haven’t tested here, our speed is quite good. Looking at how today went, we’re in a decent position.
Today we focused on running with the medium tire, while others pushed with softs toward the end—so it wasn’t a perfect run. But being consistently near the top three in every session this year is a great sign.”
(Photo courtesy of Michelin)