MotoGP penalty risk ‘not an excuse’ for Franco Morbidelli's Misano sprint podium miss

VR46 Ducati MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli says his warnings of harsher penalties was ‘not an excuse’ for him finishing behind team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio in the Misano sprint.

Ahead of this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix, the three-time race winner was given an ultimatum by the FIM stewards to clean up his act or face more severe punishments.

If Franco Morbidelli is deemed at fault for an incident involving another rider from this weekend onwards, he will be hit with a ride-through penalty.

If he repeats this offence again, he faces a race ban. This comes after a spate of incidents in 2025 for the Italian. 

Earlier in the Misano weekend, Morbidelli said he would have to change his approach in races to be less aggressive and labelled this an “advantage” for his rivals.

In Saturday’s sprint at Misano, Morbidelli ran line astern with team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio in the battle for third but didn’t put a move on him.

He says this was down to a lack of pace, however, rather than wariness of his penalty situation.

“No, he was better,” he replied when asked if he was unable to advance on fourth because he was being too cautious.

“He just made a mistake on one lap, but I was a bit too far to exploit that mistake. That’s it.

“I felt really good, feeling really at ease with the bike. I have a good feeling on it. There are things to adjust, but the feeling is very nice.

“Yeah, the track was different today. Some areas there was less grip than yesterday, more pushing. And some areas were like yesterday.

“I couldn’t do much more. I couldn’t really do much more. I wouldn’t use this as an excuse to not attack DiGia.”

Morbidelli will go from fifth on the grid in Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix, with Di Giannantonio starting seventh.