Felt Being Left Out, Franco Morbidelli quipped Yamaha
Petronas SRT Team rider, Franco Morbidelli again argued with Yamaha Motor Racing regarding the technical problems that occurred on the Grid in the Qatar Series last weekend. Morbidelli, who finally finished in 18th place, then teased Yamaha.
In fact, Morbidelli had complained about the lack of “help” from Yamaha since last season, even though he was clearly competing with Joan Mir for the world title, where he ended up finishing as runner up.
This tension even seemed to be reinforced by Razlan Razali as Team Principal Petronas SRT, where according to him Yamaha treated the Petronas Team riders as “customers” instead of as their work partners.
Morbidelli also openly admitted that he was surprised by Yamaha’s decision to give him the 2019 version of the YZR-M1, instead of providing the 2021 version this season, even though the three other riders including his partner Valentino Rossi got the latest Motor Spec.
But Morbidelli’s complaints seemed to be getting worse when he went through the first series of the season in Qatar with disappointing results.
Starting at 7th position, the runner-up slipped to 20th. Fortunately, on the last lap he managed to finish in 18th place, but that was helped by the accidents experienced by Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez.
“I also don’t know exactly what happened. Something happened to the bike before the race started, something happened in the race too.”
“We have to fix it and do a better analysis of what happened. Hopefully we can solve this problem as soon as possible, “said the 26-year-old rider.
The Italian racer admits that at this time he is not the top priority of Yamaha Motor Racing, but he hopes that the technical problems on the YZR-M1 he is riding can be resolved so that he can get better results in the next race.
“I really hope to have a better race in the next series. I know I am not at the top of Yamaha’s (priority) list at the moment, so whether they will try to rush this problem. However, they will take it very seriously. , “concluded this member of the VR46 Riders Academy.