Enea Bastianini “not happy” with Malaysia MotoGP Sprint podium as setup issues persist

Enea Bastianini finished third in the MotoGP Sprint in Malaysia, but was unhappy with his bike.

Bastianini has complained in recent races about being unable to make use of the kind of late race pace that saw him charge to victory in both Silverstone and the second Misano race earlier this year.

“Not happy, because every time we have the same problem and we don’t resolve this problem,” Bastianini said.

“Usually, the last part of the race was my strongest part but now it’s not like this, and the problem is we don’t know what happened, we don’t know in which area we have to work.

“We have to work a lot this afternoon and tonight to be much faster for tomorrow."

The Italian rider added that front feeling, as well as the ability to use his well-known late race pace, was missing from his current performance.

“I’m missing the feeling with the front, every time it starts to move,” he said. “But, it’s too much. In this track with this hot temperature it’s a bit more.”

Bastianini, who won the 2023 Malaysian Grand Prix, said that he wasn’t sure he would be able to rectify his problems for Sunday’s race.

“It depends because every time I’m going inside without any expectations because every time I have a different sensation on the bike,” he said.

“Maybe tomorrow will be better and we can fight for the victory but I’m not really confident to be like this.”

Bastianini’s relatively poor feeling with his Ducati in Sepang saw him fall further behind Marc Marquez in the battle for third in the championship, as Marquez took second place. Bastianini is now 13 points behind with two Grands Prix and one Sprint to go.

“I expected that he [Marquez] is fast,” Bastianini said, in regards to Marquez’s struggles over the course of the weekend in Sepang.

“He is Marc [Marquez], he is not the last rider in MotoGP. Marc is very strong, and it’s difficult to fight with him when he’s too strong like today.”

No championship considerations on Sunday, “I want to win”

Even if Bastianini feels he is unlikely to be able to win on Sunday, it remains his target, and he assured that the championship battle between Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia will not affect how he will race them.

“My standard is always to push and not to think a lot about the situation, the championship standing,” he said.

“Jorge [Martin] and Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] stay fighting for the championship, and it’s normal I don’t want to commit any mistakes with those guys. But we are competing and it’s normal if we fight.”

Bastianini also had his opinion on the title battle itself, as Martin pulled to 29 points clear in Sepang after Bagnaia crashed out of second place early on in the Sprint.

“I think [Jorge] Martin tomorrow has the chance to win the title, but in this world everything can change,” Bastianini said.

“It’s easy to do mistakes in the track, because the temperature is too hot and we are a lot on the limit every lap, and tomorrow we have 20 laps.

“I have to do the best race possible tomorrow, and if I can win I want to win.”