Morbidelli: Every item changed, 'not mad with Yamaha'
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Petronas and Yamaha have been unable to pinpoint the technical problem suffered by Franco Morbidelli in the Qatar season-opener.Last Sunday, the reigning title runner-up spoke of feeling as if his M1 had no rear damping, costing him one-second per lap and leaving him to limp home in 18th place.The holeshot/ride-height system was the main suspect, but Morbidelli revealed on the eve of this weekend’s second round that after an issue on the grid ‘the device was working ok’.With the culprit still unclear, Morbidelli revealed that all items ‘in doubt’ have now been changed.”We have been trying to analyse what happened last weekend. We could not pinpoint a clear item or a clear thing that made us so slow in the race,” Morbidelli said.”We could see there was a problem with the start device on the grid. But apparently it was solved. Then in the race the device was working ok. But still my feeling was bad and my performance even worse.Related ArticlesaccImages.createImage(); Jack Miller: Strange vibration ‘not really in our hands’accImages.createImage(); Jack Miller: Strange vibration ‘not really in our hands'”We are going to change every item that we have a doubt on so we can face this weekend with a blank canvass. Hopefully the problems that I had, not just in the race, but in the weekend, will go away.”Last weekend was a bad weekend for me and I still finished first in two sessions. So there were good glimpses. I don’t see why I cannot face this weekend in attack mode or in a really good manner. The important thing is to see if we got rid of the things we had.”Morbidelli also clarified some of his comments immediately after the race, when – as the only A-Spec rider on the grid – he questioned how long it would take Yamaha to investigate his problems.Related ArticlesaccImages.createImage(); Rossi: ‘Try to follow another way’, ‘some riders don’t care about rivals’accImages.createImage(); Petrucci was ‘scared’ about shoulder, recovering well”Maybe after the race I explained myself a bit too roughly because the adrenaline was multiplied by two after such a bad result and bad feeling,” Morbidelli said. “What I meant, for sure I’m not on the top of their list. They have other Factory riders to care about. That’s for sure.”I was wondering about the timing of their help and finally the timing of their help was great. They gave me the right support and the support they can give me with the right timing and right way. Everything is fine.”What I said on Sunday is only natural. I said I might be not the first rider in Yamaha. But that’s ok, and I’m right. I am not. But anyway, this doesn’t mean I’m mad with Yamaha or mad at somebody.”4″After the race I was just wondering and my wonders succeeded to get a good answer. I’m happy about that. What I said after the race was just a natural thing.”Such unfiltered comments are exactly why Amazon’s behind-the-scenes ‘Drive to Survive’ series on F1 has been so popular. MotoGP is now working on a similar series.”I loved the Formula 1 doc. I’m a great fan of F1 and to see backstage and all the different things to what we see usually see about F1 freaked me out,” Morbidelli said of being the subject of such access-all-areas filming. “I’m really looking forward to something like this for MotoGP: I won’t feel the same when I have cameras around me in difficult times. But it’s going to be good for the show.”5″When I’m going to watch it back its going to be good to have a laugh. It’s a great thing for us, it’s a great thing for MotoGP and it’s a great thing for the viewer. We are in the documentary era. Why shouldn’t MotoGP make it?”Meanwhile, with MotoGP rookie Enea Bastianini cancelling his Thursday media duties due to a some minor side effects following the second Covid vaccine, Morbidelli confirmed: “I’ll have it after the race on Monday. I followed Vale. The wise!”Team-mate Valentino Rossi finished in twelfth place last Sunday after struggling with rear tyre wear, on a night when the factory team M1 of Maverick Vinales took victory.
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