Andrea Iannone's first verdict on how MotoGP bikes have changed

The last time Andrea Iannone began a Malaysian MotoGP weekend, back in 2019, he was 17th on the timesheets in opening practice for Aprilia Gresini.

Fast forward five years and, without even a test beforehand, the Italian turned heads by being classified ninth quickest at the start of his stand-in appearance for VR46 Ducati.

Admittedly, Iannone fitted new soft front/medium rear rubber - while most stuck with used medium/hard tyres - to launch himself from last on the timesheets.

Either way, it was mightily impressive from The Maniac, give it was only his 15th lap on a GP23.

Iannone finished the day 1.9s from reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia and ahead of Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.

“Incredible,” Iannone said on Friday evening. “It's another bike, another MotoGP. It's completely another story.”

That new story includes advanced aerodynamics, ride-height devices and the latest Michelin tyres.

“It's difficult to compare [to 2019], it's complete another story, another bike,” he explained.

“Now you have winglets, a lot of aerodynamics. You ‘charge’ a lot the tyres. You make really strong pressure.”

He added: “Braking point, entry and the corner speed, this is the biggest difference

“It's unbelievable. It's really difficult to understand the limit.

“Every lap I try more, I try more, I try more and I don't feel the limit!

“It's impressive. You need to ride, ride, ride. Today I did only 25 laps, without a test, without nothing, it's difficult.

“But I'm happy. I’m 1.9s from Pecco. It's good!”

The 2016 Austrian Grand Prix winner insisted he didn’t have difficulty adapting to the ride-height device and highlighted how stable the Ducati felt compared to 2019.

“It has more agility, more everything. It's more easy to ride. It's less nervous, more stability and so entering [the corners] is more easy,” he said.

“The bike is not nervous. Really smooth. Turning really well. When you arrive [at the corner] put the bike in lean angle. Wow, you don't have movement!

“Before if you made a mistake on the pickup, you started to move ‘wah, wah, wah’ [simulates bike shaking violently side to side]. 

"It was difficult to control the torque. Now it’s perfect.”

The only area where the latest generation of prototypes have become more difficult is the physical strength required under braking.

“On the braking point, with these brakes…  Destroyed, destroyed! It’s really a lot of strength,” he said.

“But I think on the first day, after so many years, a ‘59.6 is good. We will see tomorrow," concluded Iannone, who made a race-winning return from a four-year anti-doping ban in WorldSBK this season.

Bagnaia highlighted how Iannone’s performance compared very favourably to WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista’s MotoGP wild-card on a factory Ducati at Sepang last year.

“I think that Andrea did a very good job today,” Bagnaia said. “Considering he didn’t do any test, like Alvaro Bautista did last year, but did a better job, because lapping in 1m 59s already - without knowing anything about rear [ride] height device, about our tyres.

“So, for me, Andrea today did a very impressive job.”

Bautista, who later revealed he was suffering a shoulder injury, was also second-last on the timesheets during Friday practice last season but +2.547s from the top with a 2m 0.370s.