“I am worthy to be traded” Red Bull Racing star insisting to leave the team due to…
Franco Morbidelli was agitated when he made his scheduled media appearance following MotoGP’s most recent grand prix at the Red Bull Ring two weeks ago—as agitated as the renownedly relaxed Yamaha rider ever truly gets in such public situations.
Given that his media conference had started with a segment in his home tongue, it was unclear at the time why those of us in attendance who did not speak Italian were unable to understand him.
But you’re always looking for hints and fragments. “Triste”—wait, there’s a word there that you recognize. Formula Uno: the two are incredibly well-known!
When it finally shifted to the English-language section, Morbidelli ended up talking about tire pressures. He mentioned how the Red Bull Ring heat was caused by the front pressure rising in traffic once more and how it “still takes away performance and show” almost every week.
He has already made a strong statement on that. It was time to put the theory to the test. Was it the reason for his melancholy? Did it make MotoGP more similar to Formula 1 by forcing riders to run farther apart than you would want them to, similar to how F1 drivers do it because of hot, polluted air and exhaustion?
One swing, one miss. It wasn’t what had been making him agitated. I raised my hands.
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“I explain to you, if you want!” he answered.
Please say yes.
It transpired that Morbidelli’s frustration stemmed from a focus issue rather than the caliber of the racing.
The problem is that following a race like tonight, where you are aware that I was involved, I was recuperating, I made some absurd overtakes, and I experienced some moments… “My future is the first question, and therefore the most important question,” he clarified.
And that gets me to thinking. gives me the impression that the show is real.
He stopped, and I questioned, “Off-screen?”
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“Exactly.”
Don’t get me wrong; it is obvious why Morbidelli’s future was a contentious issue. He was virtually the main character of the silly season due to the previous Austrian GP week and weekend activities.
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Read more About How Yamaha successfully introduced Morbidelli to the market by announcing Alex Rins for 2024. Then, a fantastic seat at Pramac became available, and Morbidelli seemed to be the obvious choice to fill it. Johann Zarco had all but committed to Honda, which he did officially minutes after Morbidelli’s debrief. Marco Bezzecchi had also been making strong indications that he would be staying at VR46 Ducati, and he has since been confirmed as doing just that.
It seems sense that, in the grand scheme of things, Morbidelli’s potential ride on a 2024 Ducati next season could be more significant than his unremarkable 11th place finish. However, after Morbidelli had worked hard for forty minutes to earn that 11th place, try saying that to him.
“There are events taking place in the renowned midfield in addition to the spectacle taking place at the front of the field. Both the riders and the conflicts behind them are formidable.
And Formula 1 was on my mind since it forces you to watch the midfield clashes as well.
I was therefore considering that more. Maybe there’s opportunity for improvement, I thought, some way to make some of the midfield play stand out as well.
“Because we have some really amazing riders behind them right now, huh? In addition to [Fabio] Quartararo, Morbidelli’s Yamaha teammate, who has won eight world championships, there is also [Marc Marquez]. People are slugging it out with each other.
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“Maybe there’s room for improvement in terms of exhibiting more of this kind of thing during the race.”
Apart from the details of the post-Austrian GP priorities, Morbidelli makes a valid point. One that seems especially pertinent, considering the content of his comparison, heading into this weekend, when a lot of fans will probably be flipping back and forth between MotoGP at Barcelona and F1 at Monza on the most recent meeting weekend between the two series.
Not only do the fans in attendance miss out on a lot of fantastic MotoGP action, but there is also a lot of action that happens at the correct time and place on the track.
That’s not always a jab at the MotoGP broadcasters. It is true that, in general, every event and 70–80% of the significant on-track activity can be found in Formula One. It is also true that MotoGP is obviously limited, but F1 has access to live onboard footage on every car that competes and regularly uses it. While there is always room for improvement, it also helps that F1’s onboard film is typically very complete and helpful due to the vehicles’ large amount of available space for the cameras and their tendency not to lean during bends.
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Furthermore, F1 races go two or three times longer than MotoGP races, therefore it seems sense that the MotoGP coverage finds it challenging to squeeze in any recapping of “other” action. The race for the last podium place raged throughout the better part of the 28 laps, even in a race like the Austrian Grand Prix that is generally seen as not being a classic.
Morbidelli rightfully shrugged when I brought up the runtime factor and asked if he would advocate for anything like picture-in-picture options in the broadcast.
“I am at a loss for a solution! I travel by bike. I was simply considering it.
But the truth is that the broadcast isn’t the only factor. After leaving Morbidelli’s debrief, I thought I had seen all of his races and the races of his mid-pack sparring partners, but after seeing the tape again, I could tell that wasn’t the case.
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Admittedly, there were a few notable omissions, like as the video of Joan Mir’s withdrawal or the incident involving the four riders who finished the final lap separated by less than a second at the finish line, which occurred on lap 13.
However, Morbidelli did receive some attention. A pretty nasty divebomb on Pol Espargaro was captured on camera, and there were probably just as many check-ins regarding the battle’s status in roughly tenth place as one might anticipate.
Morbidelli is correct in stating that the amount of real, unfake drama and fascination that can be found in some of those midfield fights is, in his words, “the beautiful thing of F1.”
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However, that isn’t always the case, and the reason for that is because most Formula One teams employ those middle clashes as a means of winning. And even tenth place might be a gold mine for some of them. Because Formula One divides its revenue according to constructors’ standings, there have been seasons where those one-single points have made a million-dollar difference. Those points were practically a matter of life or death for certain teams.
This isn’t how MotoGP works. Because he rides a factory Yamaha, an 11th place finish has no bearing on Morbidelli’s season in the slightest, nor does it affect any other full-time rider’s. And the reason for it is that over the course of a season, there will be numerous weekends where so much more is available for 95% of the grid.
This season, the Honda RC213V—commonly regarded as the worst motorcycle on the grid—won a grand prix. Furthermore, it was a reasonably regular race—attritional but not insane—rather than a case of mixed-weather lunacy. Even in a year like this, when Ducati is asserting its dominance and the Japanese companies seem more detached than ever, MotoGP parity exists.
