“Impossible to see” yellow flags which cost MotoGP pole

Bagnaia went four tenths clear of the field with his final Q2 lap of 1m38.494s, which smashed the existing Algarve International Circuit lap record and would have secured him his second pole in three rounds.

However, Bagnaia – who took his first MotoGP pole at the 2021 season-opening Qatar GP – set this lap having passed through a yellow flag zone when KTM’s Miguel Oliveira crashed at the fast Craig Jones left-hander at Turn 9.

This led to Bagnaia’s lap being cancelled and dropping him from pole to 11th, while promoting Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo to top spot.

MotoGP is using LED light panels at the Algarve track and at all circuits from now on, but the yellow flag was to Bagnaia’s right and out of view as his body hung over the left side of his Ducati.

When asked if the marshal post positioning was a problem, Bagnaia said: “Yes, for sure, because you are coming from the downhill and the yellow flag was on the right side.

“I was already leaning for the corner and preparing for the corner so it was impossible to see my side.

“[Luca] Marini, who was behind me, said to me the same. He also didn’t see the yellow flags so it was impossible.

“But in any case, this is a rule and we have to follow it. The problem was in the 15 minutes [for qualifying] I saw I had two laps cancelled in the two attempts that I tried, so it was better to remain in the box and look to the others.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“The good thing is that I [would have] taken the pole position today with an incredible lap and then my pace was really strong.

“In FP4 I was fast and very close to Quartararo who had new tyres, so my pace is good and I will try to recover these positions tomorrow. It will be difficult but I will try.”

Doha GP winner Quartararo inherited his 11th career MotoGP pole as a result, but admits it doesn’t “taste” the same as his others.

“The taste of this pole position is not exactly the same as the other ones, but the most important thing was to start from the front row and we achieved our goal,” the Frenchman said.

“But most of all the super thing was the pace from this morning on old tyres, also testing the tyres in the afternoon, the pace was great and with used tyres this morning I could push a little bit more.

“But we wanted to be more on the safe side of the tyre and it was great. So, I’m so happy about the pace and the job of the team.”