This Malaysian Grand Prix is the first Grand Prix of the season where the name of Franco Morbidelli has been often mentioned. Until then, it was a kind of awkward silence that enveloped him, no one really understanding, and starting with his teammate Fabio Quartararo, how a Yamaha official, 2020 MotoGP world vice-champion and Moto2 World champion in 2017 could at this point fall into the anonymity of the ranking. But in Sepang, the Italian-Brazilian remembered the paddock and his colleagues. But not always for the better.
What can we say about this Grand Prix? Malaysia for franc Morbidely ? From a performance perspective, this is undoubtedly the best of a lackluster season. In Q2 From the start, he moved around the top 10. On the track side, however, there are questions to ask. His behavior during the FP3 earned him a sanction requiring him to do a double long lap. In the race, he moved up to tenth despite that but, after a tough battle with Aleix Espargaró, he was punished with three seconds for unfair piloting.
A game which challenged the official Aprilia who commented: “ I don't know what this guy is doing this year. I don't know if he's from another planet. He gets a penalty almost every race, but he keeps doing stupid things. He hit me twice in Thailand, again very hard here. I don't know how we didn't fall. It was for 10th place. He got a three-second penalty, which is good for me because it gives me a point. But he should start last or from the pit lane. I don't know what's going on, but I was lucky I didn't fall ».
In this specific case, Franco Morbidelli
responds by attacking the officials: “ there is not enough dialogue with them. In race management there is definitely a lot of pressure and a lot of work to do. Perhaps this is why they don't have the time and space to analyze certain episodes in a colder and analytical way. They often come to hasty and erroneous conclusions ».
Franco Morbidelli: “ we can argue all day if it was me who went to Aleix or if it was him who went to me »
He even clarifies his thoughts thus: “ there is the driver complaining on TV, the team complaining, lots of people around commenting. It's normal, but when I speak to the College of Sporting Stewards I perceive fear, no openness and desire to dialogue. My penalty on Saturday is correct, but to evaluate the overtaking during the race, it would take more time and analyze everything with a better, cooler and more open mental situation. ».
Otherwise, he generally evaluates his weekend like this: “ I must be happy. I was fast during all the free practice sessions. I had a very good rhythm. I was also able to be fast in qualifying, which was the most important thing. I started the race and had to take these two penalties. After serving the two penalties, I came back – I don't know if my tires got dirty or something – but I immediately lost speed and grip. It was difficult to get back to the speed I think I could have achieved otherwise ».
« But still, I was able to go back up. Then, on the last lap, I received another penalty for unfair overtaking on the last lap. I'm sorry about that, but in my opinion there was enough space to enter this corner. We can argue all day if it was me who went to Aleix or if it was him who went to me. So in the end I got the penalty. But that doesn't take away from my good race and my good weekend. » the official finishes Yamaha .
MotoGP Malaysia J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
