The Spanish Grand Prix was anything but peaceful for Franco Morbidelli, who in Sunday’s race had to serve a Long Lap Penalty as a penalty imposed for the Sprint accident with Alex Marquez. Having served the penalty, he crossed the finish line in Jerez in 11th position, a full 17 seconds behind the winner Pecco Bagnaia.
The penalty, together with the Yamaha’s difficulties, made the Jerez weekend decidedly difficult, but the Roman rider showed his displeasure with various aspects of this current MotoGP. In the first place he attacks the tyres. He had already been very tough in Austin, but on the Spanish track he confirmed his perplexity towards the Michelin choices: “You have to work on this aspect. The technology has to be on the same level everywhere, and tire technology is not on the same level as that of motorcycles. The tires are very good when the temperature is normal, but when it’s very hot, things change.”
“With this tire situation, if you gain a position at the start you usually keep it, because you can’t overtake, due to the pressure, which increases when you’re behind each other. These very dangerous situations that occur in race have a lot to do with the tyres. You have to choose whether to improve the technology of the tires or worsen that of the motorbikes”, states Morbidelli lucidly.
Accident of Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The Yamaha rider doesn’t even send them a word to the FIM, according to him guilty of not communicating either with the riders or with the media: “It would be interesting for the Safety Commission to explain why, they didn’t do it with me. I asked for explanations, but I didn’t understand what their thinking was to judge that my maneuver was too aggressive. I’d like to hear what they have to say to the media and I wonder why these people can’t justify their choices with the media. Here they only tell the riders and that’s it.”
Not only Morbidelli, Yamaha had to face a double penalty on Sunday. Fabio Quartararo also ran into a Long Lap Penalty for causing the carom that forced the interruption of the race: “It was a race accident and we are all in these conditions because of these tyres. I wonder why these people who decide don’t communicate. The FIM doesn’t tell us many things and there is no dialogue with the riders or with the journalists. So I wonder how we can do to improve. They have their idea, the pilots have another and there is no comparison. We only talk to them when they have to beat us.”
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