Bagnaia prolonged his championship lead over Pramac’s Jorge Martin to 14 factors after ending third in Sunday’s grand prix at Sepang, with the latter a distant fourth.
Coming into the weekend, Bagnaia commented that he had a “joker” to make use of in his championship battle with Martin, who already had a warning for driving under the minimal tyre stress on the Thailand GP.
Bagnaia advised it could be one thing he would look to use on the Qatar GP subsequent week, however now now not has that possibility.
He, in addition to team-mate Bastianini – who gained Sunday’s grand prix at Sepang, marking his first victory since Aragon 2022 – have been discovered to have breached the minimal tyre stress rule within the race.
Because it was their first offence, they hold their outcomes. Nevertheless, ought to they contravene the rule once more, they are going to be awarded a three-second penalty.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro is to this point the one rider to have obtained a sanction for breaking the tyre stress rule, which was launched from this yr’s British GP.
He was hit with a three-second penalty in Thailand for committing a second offence.
Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing Ducati
Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista additionally obtained a warning on Sunday at Sepang for breaking the identical rule, together with VR46’s Luca Marini and LCR Honda’s Iker Lecuona.
These are all first offences, and subsequently their outcomes from the grand prix nonetheless stand.
As of subsequent season, any rider discovered to have run beneath the minimal entrance or rear tyre stress for no less than 30% of a dash or 50% of a grand prix shall be disqualified from the outcomes.
The rule has been met with criticism from riders because it was first touted final yr, notably over the minimal entrance stress of 1.88 bar.
They really feel they’ve too slender a working window earlier than the tyre balloons and begins to trigger entrance grip points.
Ostensibly launched as a security measure on the request of Michelin, many riders agree that the regulation is definitely making racing extra unsafe.
