Francesco Bagnaia, leader of the MotoGP world championship, finished the day in seventh position and will go straight into Q2 tomorrow. The Italian rider had some difficulties during the initial phase of the two practice sessions and clarified all the details that took place on Friday morning.
– ‘I’m happy with the work done today, during the morning I had some difficulties braking at turns 1,2 and 12, but towards the end of the morning we managed to improve the pace although I feel we need something more, I’m still not comfortable with the set-up so we need to improve tomorrow. For the race it will be very hot and it will be very important to manage the tires, this morning I did 27 laps with the same tires and it went very well.
Asked what he thought of the new circuit and the conditions of the asphalt, the Italian driver replied: “We expected to have more problems with the grip, but inside the line it’s very good, it’s only when you go off the line that it becomes quite slippery and you can lose the front or the rear. The circuit is very interesting and technical, there are corners like 1 or 12 where if you miss your braking by a millimeter you’re right off the ideal line, it’s very intense”.
Bagnaia, still recovering from injury, spoke about his physical condition in the context of the Indian circuit’s hot climate.
– “The most demanding thing will be the heat and the hot weather, because the body is hot, the bike is hot and that will be very demanding for me. I’m fine, but I’m still not 100% and compared to the Malaysian circuit, this one is much more demanding. Asked about the strong braking points and the difficulties he had in braking, the Italian rider said: ‘ During my time attack lap I was sliding all over the place, it was like Augura. It was good, I was enjoying it, but it was only for one lap. I don’t feel comfortable braking and we need to improve that for the race.