Finally some Yamaha joy? | Five talking points from Sepang

The MotoGP title fight goes down to an uncertain finale with Francesco Bagnaia keeping his hopes alive with victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

But the reigning champion faces an uphill battle to hold onto his crown, as a crash in the sprint race means Jorge Martin’s points lead is 24 with a round to go.

To add to the pressure of the title showdown, a venue has yet to be set for the event after deadly flooding in Valencia forced the race at Ricardo Tormo to be cancelled.

MotoGP now hopes to hold the finale in Barcelona on 15-17 November, but flooding in the city on Monday 4 November has once again cast an uncertain light on the series finale.

Amid the uncertainty, the MotoGP paddock came together to support the people of Valencia.

Elsewhere, Yamaha produced its best weekend of the season, with Fabio Quartararo sixth in the grand prix on a bike he shouldn’t have been riding in the first place.

There was also the return of Andrea Iannone, taking part in his first grand prix since 2019 and impressing with his speed on the VR46 Ducati.

Here are the five key takeaways from the 2024 Malaysian GP

Quartararo shines on Yamaha’s best weekend

Fabio Quartararo capped off Yamaha’s most competitive weekend of the year in a fine sixth on an M1 that wasn’t putting its best foot forward in the 19-lap grand prix.

The 2021 world champion was caught up in the Turn 2 pile-up triggered by Brad Binder and which also involved a scary fall for Jack Miller - which he thankfully walked away from.

Quartararo was forced to take the restart on his second bike, which had a slightly used rear tyre on it and a well worn engine. Despite this, he was able to clear Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia by 3.2s and was just under three seconds from being the top non-Ducati.

Team-mate Alex Rins was eighth - his best result of the year - and all of this coming off the back of a double Q2 appearance for Yamaha, while Quartararo was also top non-Ducati in the sprint.

Yamaha has worked tirelessly over the year to update the M1, with a new engine brought to Sepang. Quartararo’s broke on Friday, but that didn’t hinder him as the biggest breakthrough came on the electronics.

A major setting change gave more control back to both riders, and while this necessitated a quite different approach to riding the Yamaha, it ultimately allowed them to be as competitive as they were.

With a busy winter ahead for Yamaha, its best results coming on the tail of a generally positive flyaway portion of the season should provide a strong foundation to build on for 2025.

Bagnaia hero-to-zero-to-hero

Jorge Martin had an outside chance of wrapping up the championship coming into the Malaysian GP weekend, as he held a 17-point lead in the standings over Bagnaia.

That was boosted to 29 points after a win in the sprint came as Bagnaia crashed out of the podium places. It was the eighth DNF of the year for Bagnaia, this latest calamity coming just hours after he brilliantly took pole from Martin in a thrilling qualifying.

Bagnaia had to go “full send” in the grand prix to keep the fight going on to the finale. Over the first three laps, the pair locked horns and traded places 13 times. Bagnaia ultimately prevailed and would go on to score a 10th grand prix win of the season by over three seconds.

With his back up against the wall, Bagnaia came out swinging with a swagger we haven’t seen from him since he beat Marc Marquez in a head-to-head for victory at the Spanish GP. The five points gained could prove vital, but the 48 Martin has gained on him in sprints this year look like they will prove fatal to his rival’s title hopes.

Martin gave as good as he got, but rode smartly when Bagnaia’s pace proved too good. His relentless consistency in 2024 has earned the Pramac rider the luxury of simply needing to shadow Bagnaia to the end of the season.

With 24 points between them, everything is weighted in Martin’s favour. But Sepang proved that Bagnaia won’t go down easy.

Pedro Acosta continues to mature

Pedro Acosta may well end his rookie season without the win many predicted he would score in 2024. But that shouldn’t detract from the fact it has been an excellent, if mistake-prone, start to life in the premier class for the 20 year-old.

After finishing second at the Indonesian GP, Acosta went five races without scoring a point. It was after this that he realised a change of approach was needed.

A disappointing qualifying left him 13th on the grid at Sepang, but he came through the heat in the sprint to nab a point, before jumping up to fifth in the grand prix. He was only about 1.4s from Alex Marquez in fourth and felt he had the pace to get to the Gresini rider, had he not cooked his front tyre getting into the top five.

A moment on the front in the final five laps forced him to wave the white flag and accept fifth. But it was his response to this afterwards that highlighted a clear shift in perspective from the Tech3 rider.

“Was necessary even if one day we are going to fight for a championship, that maybe less is more at the end of the season,” Acosta said. “Because have a look how many points I lost in the races that I crashed. A lot.”

With Brad Binder a non-starter at the Malaysian GP, Acosta has moved back into fifth in the standings and his new, methodical approach could well see him end 2024 as the top KTM rider.

Impressive comeback for a controversial returnee

VR46 made official its decision to give Andrea Iannone a MotoGP return in place of Fabio Di Giannantonio - who underwent surgery on his left shoulder last Saturday - on the Tuesday ahead of the Malaysian GP.

It had been rumoured strongly during the Thailand weekend, and with those reports came a split in opinion.

But Iannone’s MotoGP return, ironically at the race five years ago where the seeds of his four-year doping ban were sewn, came and went without much of a splash. A much happier Iannone faced the media on Thursday at Sepang and echoes of the old one hit the track on Friday, after he ended FP1 on the GP23 ninth.

In qualifying, Iannone continued to impress in 17th in Q1 and just a few tenths from beating VR46 team-mate Marco Bezzecchi without a late mistake. The physical toll of modern MotoGP machinery proved too much for Iannone, though, and he could do no more than beat Lorenzo Savadori in both races.

It’s not clear whether he’ll be on the bike for the season finale, but if this is to be Iannone’s final time on a MotoGP bike then he can reflect on it as nothing but confirmation that he was more than fast enough to go far in the premier class had he treated his opportunities better.

Riders do MotoGP proud with Valencia response

The deadly flooding in Valencia that has led to more than 200 known deaths and left major damage in its wake cast a sombre tone over the MotoGP paddock as it gathered at the Sepang International Circuit.

While the paddock’s immediate thoughts were with the people of Valencia, questions also had to be answered about what would happen to the final round set to be staged at Ricardo Tormo on 15-17 November.

The event was eventually cancelled as of Friday, but a number of the riders had already expressed their concerns about racing in Valencia amid such tragedy, while reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia effectively threatened to boycott it.

“Even at the cost of losing my ultimate goal, which is to win the title, I am not prepared to race in Valencia,” he said on Friday having poignantly said about the Valencia GP on Thursday: “It’s like a moment to enjoy. And knowing that the situation is what it is, it’s not correct. And we are always super respectful about what is happening around the world. We are living everybody under the same sky, so it could be wrong to race there.”

Jorge Martin later said he would donate his win bonus from the sprint race at Sepang to help relief efforts in Valencia, while the Aspar team - who is based in the region - set up a GoFundMe that has raised almost €100,000 as of Monday evening.

Ahead of the sprint, the MotoGP paddock stood together for a minute of silence in honour of the people of Valencia.

Amid such uncertainty over what could happen with the championship, both title rivals Bagnaia and Martin - and the rest of the field - gave MotoGP a reason to be proud in their response to the tragedy in Valencia.

What happens next remains unclear, with a proposed Barcelona replacement race on the same date yet to be confirmed - and facing some doubts following flooding in the city on Monday.