After a French Grand Prix in which he only obtained a 15th place, Franco Morbidelli finds himself having won just 19 points in the first seven races of the 2022 MotoGP.
This situation led the Italian driver to have to evaluate his start to the season negatively, after a particularly difficult Sunday. “It was a complicated race, it was not easy to fight this weekend”, explained Morbidelli after the end of the Le Mans race.
“I didn’t have the right feeling to stay in front. For this reason I was unable to have good speed in the middle of the corner and I couldn’t do more.”
During the Warm-Up, Morbidelli showed a better pace than the one he had then in the race, closing with the 11th time, not too far from the best.
“In the end we managed to take at least one point, which gives us some confidence,” said the Yamaha rider with optimism. “We saw some good things on Sunday morning and we had good pace on used tires.”
“This shows that the potential is there. We just have to figure out how to put the data together in the right way.”
Top speed is likely to be a big problem in the next race at Mugello, given the very long straight of the Italian circuit. However, Morbidelli does not want to bandage his head before breaking it: “I expect a good weekend. There will be a lot of people, so it will be nice to be back at Mugello.”
When asked if the Iwata manufacturer should be more aggressive in development, Morbidelli said he was “in no position to ask Yamaha for anything”.
“I can only ask for some extra help with setting up the bike. And they are already doing it.”
“When I get to the level of Fabio (Quartararo), I will be able to ask something,” he continued regarding his teammate, currently the only driver capable of being competitive with the M1.
The Frenchman is leading the World Championship after seven races, having scored 102 points, 4 more than Aleix Espargaro and 8 more than Enea Bastianini.
#MotoGP #Morbidelli #position #Yamaha