Francesco Bagnaia was not able to automatically qualify for Q2 on Friday at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

It was a familiar story for Francesco Bagnaia on Friday at the Malaysian Grand Prix, as he missed out on the top ten, meaning he was not able to automatically qualify for Q2 on Saturday.

However, the Italian knows that this time it was his fault, as he made a mistake in the final sector on his best lap and ended the day in 12th place for the factory Ducati squad.

He will now have to go through Q1 with the likes of Luca Marini, Marco Bezzecchi, Fermin Aldeguer, and Raul Fernandez. Bagnaia is aware that it will be a difficult qualifying for him on Saturday at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

"It was a bit chaotic at the end of the sessions," Bagnaia told MotoGP.com after the Friday afternoon Practice session.

"I did not use the performance of my bike well enough to be in the top ten; I missed it by a tenth. I lost a lot in the last sector, so it was my fault. The feeling is not there, unlike in the test, it's how it has been the whole season.

"We just need to work a bit more, understand if we can do something for tomorrow, and try to improve. Because the Q1 session will be quite tough tomorrow.

"I am in Q1, [Marco] Bezzecchi is in Q1, [Raul] Fernandez is in Q1, [Fermin] Aldeguer is in Q1, and [Luca] Marini. So, there are many riders and it will be important to do our maximum, just to try to be at the front again."

'I am still struggling... so we need to understand why.'

At the end of the afternoon Practice session, Bagnaia mistimed his final lap as he passed the finish line one second after the chequered flag was shown, which he feels is a missed opportunity on his part.

"I passed the chequered flag one second too late, and missed the opportunity of another lap," he explained.

"Maybe it could have been a bit better, but it is what it is. Everybody had the same possibilty, and I lost mine. It was the same for everybody."

Throughout the whole season, Bagnaia has struggled with poor feelings from his Ducati GP25 when he is braking, which again was the issue throughout the day in Malaysia.

"Compared to Phillip Island and Indonesia the feeling is a bit better," he stated.

"It feels like the race at Phillip Island, I am still struggling with braking on corner entry, and with cornering at some corners. But it is what it is, and all the season has been like this, so we will try different things.

"In the test here everything was fine, everything was working perfectly, so we need to understand why."