The runner-up in the 2020 championship was considered by many – including Ducati’s Jack Miller – to be the favorite to win the season opener on Sunday in Losail.
But Morbidelli slumped from seventh on the grid to last place on the first lap and was only able to save 18th – he only beat Aprilias Lorenzo Savadori after Tech 3’s LCR duo Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez and Danilo Petrucci dropped out.
Morbidelli didn’t state what the problem was, but sources in the paddock told Motorsport.com that the Italian’s holeshot device got stuck throughout the race.
Introduced by Ducati in 2019, the Holeshot device mechanically lowers the rear of the bike to reduce wheelying off the line and improve acceleration at the start of the race.
The device has evolved since then, where most manufacturers can use it in corners as well, while Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha and KTM also have front holeshot devices for racing starts.
Morbidelli commented on the problem that appeared on the grid and was also visible during practice: “Difficult race for us, we had a problem with the grid and decided to race anyway.
“It’s a problem that we need to better investigate because it happened at other times over the weekend, but in the race we clearly saw that something was wrong and unfortunately we had to drive such a bad race.
“Well, basically the bike has stopped spinning and the back end of the bike feels empty, like I have no cushioning in the shock and I have an empty shock.
“I can’t turn … well, I can turn, but I have to slow down a second. I can accelerate, but I have to slow down a second.
“So this is the effect that I had. We don’t know the cause yet, I’m sure the Yamaha people will help me with this. “
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Although Morbidelli knew he had to drive with a problem – which raises questions about the safety of the race with a broken hole shot – he said he wanted to move on to honor his team’s hard work.
“Yeah, of course I was pretty much the last, but still for the respect of my team and the people who work with me,” he added.
“I wanted to finish the race and I also wanted to finish the race at the start [understanding] Better the problem. “
At the top, Yamaha factory colleague Maverick Vinales put in an impressive performance for victory.
But Morbidelli admits that this gives him no consolation for this weekend’s Doha GP as his pace was not strong enough in the evenings over the weekend to repeat what Vinales did.
“Well, if the race is in daylight, yes,” he said. “If not, I really hope so.” Hope is what i got “