Franco Morbidelli reacts to Catalan MotoGP penalty: “I should have been more clever”
VR46 rider Morbidelli has a long lap for Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix
Franco Morbidelli says he “should have been more clever” to avoid the incident with Jorge Martin in the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix sprint that earned him a penalty.
The VR46 rider qualified fourth on Saturday but a poor start dropped him well out of the points on the opening lap.
In his attempts to come back through the field, he engaged with Aprilia’s Jorge Martin with lost the front attempting an overtake at Turn 10 on lap seven of 12.
Franco Morbidelli took both riders down and was later awarded a long lap penalty for Sunday’s grand prix.
He branded the crash “a pity” because he was “fighting for nothing”, but accepts he “should have been more clever”.
“I had an awful start,” he said.
“We still don’t understand what happened, but we need to dig deeper and understand.
“Then I was fighting against Jorge and Joan to try to come back and do the best race as I could.
“But when I was trying to overtake Jorge, I made a mistake and I lost the front and I hit him.
“We both crashed and that’s a pity because we were fighting for nothing, and I will have a penalty that’s not ideal at all because our aims are completely different than P16.
“With the move I made today, it’s going to make us pay even more [in the race].
“That’s a pity. I should have been more clever.”
A lap after that incident, fellow satellite Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer had an identical crash with Martin’s Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 5.
Aldeguer was also handed a long lap penalty, while Bezzecchi walked away from the crash with just some bruising.
Jorge Martin: Morbidelli crash ‘wasn’t my biggest problem’
Reigning world champion Martin was less than impressed with Morbidelli’s collision, as he was seen sarcastically clapping the Italian as he picked himself up from the gravel.
But speaking later, Martin says his biggest problem in Saturday’s sprint was the fact he started so far down on the grid.
“Well, I think the big issue wasn’t the crash at all,” he told motogp.com.
“The big issue was starting in 18th. This is the problem. I felt good. I felt I could push.
“I’m starting to improve a bit in qualifying. But today the pace was super-fast of the people in qualifying.
“I was disturbed by another rider during my lap. So, I think it was impossible to go into Q2 but at least starting 13th, 14th would be a great step.
“Then the start was good, but the first lap was a bit of a disaster. I was in 22nd position.
“From then I started to overtake a lot of riders. So, the first three laps I felt fantastic, and then the front tyre went super hot and everything became super difficult.
“Anyway, I feel we improved the set-up a bit. The pace, I think, is not bad. When I’m alone I can ride really comfortably. So, just focusing on qualifying now is my target.”
