Aleix Espargaro feels his recent criticism of Aprilia has been vindicated after a shocking Friday of practice at the Malaysian MotoGP.

The Catalan is 20th on combined times having so far notched up just one complete lap of the Sepang circuit on slick tyres after technical problems with both of his bikes in Free Practice 1.

He crashed his first RS-GP because of a clutch problem and then saw an engine alarm when he went out on his second machine, before going 21st-fastest in Free Practice 2.

Espargaro ended the previous round, the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, 27 points behind new championship leader Francesco Bagnaia and therefore still an outside shot at the championship.

However, he declared then that Aprilia Racing is “not at the level to fight for this title” after “many mistakes” in the last three races, including a traction control problem at Phillip Island and the eco mode blunder at Japan’s Motegi.

Espargaro was queried about his criticism on the Thursday immediately prior to practice at Sepang, at which point he doubled down on it.

After Friday practice, he pointed to his experience in FP1 as further proof.

“I was a little bit critical with our performance in general, with the team performance, at the last races, and looks like for the journalists and for Aprilia I was too critical,” said the Argentina Grand Prix winner.

“Today you can analyse my Free Practice 1, it is how it is, the results are there.

“We are in the second part of the championship. We are not at the level that we’ve been in the first part and I can’t do anything else.

“I really believe in this team and I really believe that next year we can fight again for the title if we do the same things we did in the first part of the championship, without any doubt.

“Actually, if I did more or less similar [results] from the first part of the championship, I would be leading now.

“So, hopefully we can learn from this.”

Espargaro had crashed at Turn 8 at the start of his second run in FP1, having brought his first to a premature end due to a clutch problem.

He would miss much of the session due to an engine-related drama on his second bike.

“A difficult beginning to the most important weekend of the season so far,” he recounted.

“I had a big problem with the clutch in bike one. I stopped after one lap, then I restarted and crashed immediately because of this problem.

“Then with the second bike I did just one out lap and then I had an alarm on the dash and had to stop. It was related to the engine, but I cannot really comment any more.

“I couldn’t continue with that bike [due to] the engine, so I watched the session from my garage.

“Then in the afternoon it rained so, difficult to say something about today.”

Despite everything, the 33-year-old says he is being fair, and that his honesty is appreciated in the end.

“I think the team love me because I’m really honest, just like when I’ve said to them, ‘congratulations, the bike is fantastic,’” remarked Espargaro.

“I remember back in 2021 here in Malaysia, when I tried the bike two years ago, the big revolution, I was crying when I came in the pits. Because I felt it from the bottom of my heart.

“But when I’m critical with them it’s because I want to push them more because I feel they are able to do better. We are not at the level of the last races.”

Espargaro now has to hope for a dry Free Practice 3 to try and earn a bye through Qualifying 1, although the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Bagnaia is in the same situation after opting not to run new Michelin tyres are the end of FP1.

The championship leader has defended that call, which he took ownership of, on the basis of what he learnt about the longevity of the medium rear over a longer run.