The Ducati rider leads reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo by 23 points coming into this weekend’s Valencia finale and simply needs to finish 14th or higher to win the title on Sunday.
Both title rivals were line astern at the end of Friday’s running, with Quartararo eighth and Bagnaia 0.050s adrift in ninth at the end of FP2’s soft tire time attack segment.
Having ended FP1 down in 17th while Quartararo led the way, Bagnaia admitted his feeling on the bike in the conditions wasn’t great, but managed to make “a great step” in FP2.
However, he concedes that the championship situation made him wary about his time attack laps in FP2.
“I was struggling this morning, I improved my feeling in the session but it wasn’t enough,” Bagnaia said after Friday’s run.
“This afternoon was the same, I started a bit better than this morning but the feeling wasn’t the best.
“But then the second exit already I was able to do a great step in front, I had a really similar pace to Fabio and Marc [Marquez].
“It was a good run and my feeling improved a lot. Then the time attack was quite good, but still I miss a bit of feeling because I don’t want to make mistakes like I did in Sepang.
“And today it was easy to commit a mistake, with the wind.
“So, I accepted to be a bit slower in some parts of the track because I was struggling to enter with more corner speed. Something is limiting me. But not so much today.
“My feeling wasn’t the best at the start. Like always, the bike is quite different compared to last year and at this track I feel it a bit more because in the braking I was struggling a bit more than normal.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Also, the rear grip was a bit low. We worked in that direction and finally we improved a lot.
“But we are still missing, and for the time attack my mindset for the championship has limited me more.”
Asked by Motorsport.com if he had to approach qualifying on Saturday more cautiously, Bagnaia added: “I will try to be in Q2, that will be the main thing. I think with the improvement of today we can be in the top 10.
“Then the pace, the second exit I had 16 laps on the rear tire and the pace was quite, quite good.
“Very close to Fabio, who is the fastest at the moment, but we were 0.050s back compared to him.
“I will try to do a really good time attack in the morning. We have to see the conditions because it will be more cold but less windy, so maybe it can be better for us.”
Quartararo feels he has more to give in qualifying trim on his Yamaha, but brushed off any suggestions that he is feeling as nervous as Bagnaia is.
“It’s normal. Why should I be nervous?” he replied when told Bagnaia looked pensive on the bike on Friday.
“I already said to my team and friends that I’ll go all-in during this race. Whatever happens we will have fun on Sunday night, but I’m not leaving here without trying.”