Raul Fernandez struggling: “I’m worse, and I don’t want to do anything foolish.”

The Spaniard is unsure whether he will be able to complete the weekend at Sepang; his physical condition is far from perfect, and the first free practice session will be decisive.

Three weeks after fracturing it at Mandalika, Raul Fernandez’s right index finger is nowhere near healed. The Trackhouse rider arrived in Malaysia admitting that his condition had worsened since the Phillip Island weekend: he will ride in FP1 at Sepang, after which the doctors will decide whether he can continue in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Spaniard has already set his priority: not jeopardizing the end of the season.

After somehow managing to finish second in the main race in Indonesia despite his injured right hand, he found himself having to grit his teeth in Australia. He had to retire from the Sprint after 10 of the scheduled 13 laps, as inflamed tissue around the fracture prevented him from reaching the finish.

Today, the MotoGP medical team examined him and declared him fit to ride in FP1 at Sepang, but his condition will have to be reassessed at the end of the session. Fernandez will try to ride his Aprilia RS-GP26, but he is also ready to stop if he is unable to continue: "I feel worse than I did in Australia. On Wednesday I saw Dr. Nacho Gallego - reports Speedweek - who examined the fracture. Unfortunately, there’s no treatment for it. We’ll decide after FP1; the doctor will make the call. If I crashed, I’d have to start all over again. I don’t want to do anything stupid, I need time to recover. Portugal and Valencia are the most important thing".

With three Grands Prix in a row (Australia-Malaysia-Qatar), the Spanish rider has little time to rest and recover. If there had been at least a week with no track commitments, things would have been different, and he could have recovered better.

Two fingers are fractured, but the one causing the most problems is the index finger—the very one Fernandez uses to operate the brake. In this respect, the Malaysian circuit is much more demanding than Phillip Island and Mandalika, where there were only two really heavy braking zones. At Sepang there are four or five, so the physical strain is greater.

He does not like the idea of retiring early from the Malaysian GP, but he also does not want to take unnecessary risks that could jeopardize the closing stages of a 2026 season that has been positive overall for him and the SuperFile Trackhouse team: "Now is the time not to ruin the season - Raul admits -; it’s time to recover properly and bring it to the best possible end. We need to be smart and try to make the best decisions for me and the team". The message is clear.

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