The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team is fielding its two official riders this year, fabio quartararo et Franco Morbidelli riding a Yamaha YZR–M1 which has barely changed since last season.
The first quickly understood that it was not necessary to focus on an engine always lacking top speed and, from the Grand Prix of the Americas, began again to exploit to the maximum the qualities of Iwata's machine which already brought him the world title last year. The strategy is paying off for the moment since the Frenchman occupies the lead in the world championship at mid-season ahead of a gaggle of European machines.
But on the other side of the box, it's total discomfiture with a Franco Morbidelli who has a rather incredible total of 147 points behind his own teammate! This year, it is difficult to remember that the Italian nevertheless led the difficult game to Fabio Quartararo in 2020, finishing the season in the place of vice-champion, while The Devil, despite fighting for the title for a good part of the year, faced demons during the last races.
What’s happening to “Francky”?
In a sense, we could say that if in 2020 fabio quartararo sometimes had difficulty rediscovering the sensations of his 2019 bike, this year it is Franco Morbidelli who regrets his 2020 machine: history is an eternal beginning…
Massimo Meregalli explained himself on the subject during the last Grand Prix at Assen, revealing that the Italian's main problem was that his 1 M2022 offers... too much grip!
“At the moment we are facing this situation and, as I said before, we are convinced of Franco's performance and speed. Currently, we are really looking for a solution that allows him to be more comfortable on the bike in order to be faster and more consistent. Because in my opinion, the race results probably don't show what he did in the previous races, while the pace he showed in the sessions is already increasing. What is missing now is the attack on the clock: he is suffering and it is also very difficult to understand that he is complaining that he has too much grip! And so he can't turn and skate as he would like. »
Those who still remember the endless complaints from Yamaha riders regarding a lack of grip will not believe their ears, nor indeed Andrea Dovizioso who complains to the contrary while riding the same motorcycle, but this is nevertheless the reality disclosed by the team manager of the official Yamaha team who also specifies that the departure of Ramón Forcada of the official team has nothing to do with the current catastrophic situation.
“I don't think that's the problem that hasn't put Franky in a situation where we all would like him to be. He is satisfied with his working group and we also have strong confidence in the skills of Patrick Primmer. So in my opinion he was already a Yamaha rider in 2020 and now he simply moved to a bike that is different from the 2020 while sometimes he tries to find the same feeling. But in the end we try to tell him that the 2022 bike has different characteristics. So we're working to try to make him comfortable on this bike with the staff that we have, and we also think that the staff that we have is a very good staff.
I am rather convinced that with a better starting position, his race results would definitely be better, because as you know, and especially for us, it is not easy to move up positions during races. So by the time we've achieved the goal of moving him further forward, I think we'll start to see Franco regain his speed. »
