MalaysianGP: Alex Marquez Warns Parts of Sepang Are 'On the Limit of Being Unsafe'

Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) turned a difficult morning into a strong afternoon on the opening day of the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit on Friday, 30 October 2026. The defending Malaysian GP winner was second in the afternoon Practice session with a 1'57.109, just 0.109s behind his brother Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team). That completed a Ducati 1-2 and sent him straight into Q2. He was happy with his speed, but he warned that three or four points of the breaking-up Sepang surface are "really on the limit of being unrideable and unsafe".

Asked whether he'd been competitive, Alex was honest about how the day began. "Not in the morning, for sure. In the morning, I suffered a lot," he said. "Everything was quite different from what I was expecting." He was outside the top five in FP1, where Marc set the only 1'58 lap of the session, 0.474s clear of Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Rather than panic, the Gresini crew stayed patient and went to work on the bike. "We changed the set-up a little bit and some parameters on the electronics side," Alex explained. "When we put the soft rear tyre in, everything was working much, much better."

That tyre made all the difference. Every rider used the soft rear in both of last year's races, but only one rider fitted it in FP1. Everyone else ran the new medium or the hard, which is last year's medium. In a separate media session, Alex said the difference between them is huge. "Until you mount the right tyre here, it's difficult. With the other two tyres compared to that one, you're a second slower, and you don't really see how the bike is performing," he said. That puts the morning order in a different light. Marc said he'd felt good "also with the medium rear tyre" in FP1, while Alex only came alive once the soft went in.

Once it did, Alex found the rhythm that Sepang demands. "I'm happy with the afternoon, especially. Not with the morning, but in the afternoon we were able to be fast, to be on the lines, to be smooth, to have that flow that you need to have at this track," he said. Grip is the big issue here, so the team spent the afternoon working on making the rear tyre last. "Especially when the grip is really low, it drops a lot after not many laps, and we worked a little bit on different things to improve in that way, the tyre life, especially the rear one," he said. "So yeah, quite happy. We were able to be fast, and in a good way, not feeling really on the limit." He did it in punishing conditions, with an air temperature of 34°C, a track temperature of 49°C and 61% humidity.

The timing sheets back him up. Alex set his best lap on lap 14 of 17. His best sectors added up to a 1'57.079, just 0.030s quicker than his actual best lap, so he put almost everything together on one lap. Comparing their best sectors, he was quicker than Marc in the first two, by 0.004s and 0.103s, and just 0.008s slower in the third. Marc made almost all of his time in the final sector, which includes the Turn 15 hairpin. He was the fastest rider there with a 28.607, 0.178s quicker than Alex. That's the corner where Marc crashed earlier in the session and where, by his own admission, he is "taking more risk". So most of the gap between the brothers came from the part of the lap where Marc is pushing hardest, while Alex says he didn't feel really on the limit. Behind them, Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) was third, 0.058s slower than Alex, and Acosta was fourth, 0.271s back. Alex's top speed was 336.4 km/h.

He did all this while carrying a physical problem. According to reports, he's been battling bursitis and has needed injections at around 90% of races this year. In that separate session, he admitted Sepang is taking more out of him than Phillip Island did. "I'm pretty satisfied, even though I'm struggling more physically in my second consecutive race. I'm feeling worse here than I did in Australia, but that's something I expected," he said.

The state of the track was Friday's big talking point, with riders reporting bits of asphalt being flicked up at them. Alex, though, was calmer than many of his rivals. "Similar to last year," he said when asked about the conditions. He pointed out that lap times were already at the same level as last year, and he admitted he'd expected worse after hearing so much criticism of the asphalt. He added that the riders had been told last year that the track would be resurfaced, which hasn't happened. "So hopefully for next year, it will be done," he said. In the separate session, he said the asphalt chips away at "the typical corners we have here", such as Turns 2 and 15, and named Turn 14 as the worst. For reference, Marc's 1'57.000 was 0.663s off the all-time lap record, a 1'56.337 set by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) in 2024, although times usually drop further in qualifying.

Asked whether the loose rocks made it easier to lose the front than in previous years, he didn't hide the danger. "In my opinion, there are three, four points that are really on the limit, really on the limit of being unrideable and unsafe," he said. "It's like this, and we will not have any solution for this weekend. So I will not complain. We just try to adapt to those things."

Others were far more critical. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) said: "It's a motocross track now, we need to wear the chest protector. A lot of rocks were coming from the asphalt." Augusto Fernandez (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) has done a lot of testing at Sepang with Yamaha this year, and he said the problem is growing. "There aren't many bumps, but it's true that when you touch the asphalt, things get very difficult; in fact, pieces come off. The problem is that year after year it gets worse," he said. Marc's view was closer to his brother's. "I don't feel a big difference compared to the test, honestly speaking," he said. "It's time to resurface, as we said last year already, but it's not worse than at the test." The paddock has good reason to be wary. At the first Brazilian GP in Goiania earlier this season, the main race was shortened at the last minute after the track started to crumble during the Moto2 and Moto3 races.

Sepang has been good to Alex. As well as winning last year's Malaysian GP, he holds the circuit's race lap record, a 1'58.873 set last year, and he was fastest at the end of this year's pre-season test here. He also arrived in form after finishing second in the Phillip Island Sprint, 0.323s behind Marc, before bad weather wiped out Sunday's races. Marc noted on Friday that "Ducati is working well with Alex and Diggia too". With the #93 leading Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) by 10 points, a strong weekend from last year's championship runner-up could also shape the title fight.

There is plenty for Alex to be positive about. He was within a tenth of his brother without feeling on the limit, he beat Marc in two of the four sectors and was within 0.008s in a third, and he has won here before. The team's work on rear tyre life could also pay off over a race distance at a track where grip drops so quickly. However, there are warning signs. It took him the whole morning to get the bike right, so with a poor weather forecast, any lost dry running would hurt. He's also feeling worse physically than he did a week ago. And on a crumbling surface, one bad moment at Turn 14 or Turn 15 could undo all of Friday's good work, while Marc is in full attack mode with 37 points on offer.

Friday showed what Alex can do once the bike is right: he was smooth and fast, and calm about conditions he can't change. He'll find out whether that's enough to beat his brother on Saturday, 31 October 2026, when he goes straight into Q2 before the Tissot Sprint. The Grand Prix follows on Sunday, 1 November 2026.

Credit Photo : Sorawit/SNE Sports