Morbidelli: ‘I have to be faster’, needs ‘more time’ to appreciate 2022 bike

Franco Morbidelli is hoping for a more consistent level of performance during this week’s three-day Mandalika MotoGP test after finishing 24th at Sepang. 

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider was a full second away from team-mate Fabio Quartararo, who himself finished seventh - +0.182s behind the Malaysian circuit’s new unofficial lap record holder Enea Bastianini. 

While the biggest positive for Morbidelli is that he’s now fully fit after the left knee injury that plagued him for much of 2021, however, the next focus for the Italian is finding pace, especially when it comes to the tyre dropping off.  

Speaking after the two-day test, Morbidelli added: "I feel good, but I don’t feel fast when the grip drops. I have to be faster when the grip drops. 

"But I feel quite good in general. I’m not one of the fastest guys. I’m close to the fastest guys, but not yet one of the fastest. Especially in the afternoon, I'm not one of the fastest guys."

Although Morbidelli only had rookie Darryn Binder behind him when it came to full-time MotoGP riders, the 2020 championship runner-up missed out on a qualifying simulation which impacted his overall time and position. 

Asked how he felt with the 2022 M1, Morbidelli alluded to needing ‘more time’ to understand the bike fully, but that it has significant improvements on the 2019 package he’s been used to riding over the last three seasons.

"I do feel like it’s huge changes," added Morbidelli. "But to appreciate the difference you need more time. So far it was just the same with some small improvements and also the top speed. 

"We wanted to improve on new tyres, and we did that. We wanted to improve our pace, and we did that too. Unfortunately, we were not able to do the time attack, because in our programme it was scheduled in the late afternoon, but with the rain it wasn‘t possible to do it. 

"The feeling is getting better and better. Every time it‘s getting better with the bike. We‘re setting it up well to be fast and consistent. 

"There is this time attack doubt that I wanted to take away. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until Indonesia for that, but so far, so good. I‘m quite happy."