The difference in performance of the Yamaha riders in MotoGP is notorious, with Fabio Quartararo being the only one capable of winning and fighting at the front constantly. His factory teammate, Franco Morbidelli, takes time to find the path to success, something he doesn’t attribute to the bike itself and conditions the joint work.
Speaking to the championship’s official website, the #21 explained that the problems don’t come from the YZR-M1, but in its adaptation – or lack thereof – to it: ‘My main problem is not related to the bike itself, it’s not related to a particular problem with the bike. It’s related to the fact that I still haven’t found the right balance and the right connection to the bike. When the knee was good at the beginning of the season I expected to have good results or good performance and that was not the case’.
Morbidelli feels that the Yamaha bike has strengths, which, unlike Fabio Quartararo, he is still unable to take full advantage of: ‘It’s a very smooth bike. It’s certainly not the fastest on the straight, but it has good things and Fabio is very good at exploiting them well. And I, at this moment, don’t’.
With the difference in performance compared to his teammate, the italian admitted that he doesn’t even share his information and explained the reasons: ‘Fabio followed a path that is very useful for him and I wasn’t on that path. It doesn’t work to share my information if he’s found a way to better explore the set, so I don’t want to give any information that’s unclear or that is more related to me not finding the right connection to the bike than the bike itself’.