“Maybe I forgot how to ride a MotoGP” - Morbidelli after Brno struggle

Franco Morbidelli questioned whether he had “forgot how to ride a MotoGP” bike after a demoralising weekend at Brno.

The VR46 rider, using the GP25-spec Ducati that won the title with Marc Marquez but perplexed Pecco Bagnaia for much of last season, dropped from ninth on the grid to 12th in the Sprint and 13th in the grand prix.

“I did a better start compared to yesterday. I did very few mistakes. I tried to make the maximum in every lap, and another [P13] came out,” Morbidelli said.

“I didn't have any performance at all, I didn't have any grip at all, I'm struggling a lot with grip since the beginning of the year, nothing seems to change. I don't know. Maybe I forgot to ride a MotoGP.”

Morbidelli added: “I don't know. Maybe it's like this. It's strange, because in Barcelona, I go on the front row. Then in Mugello, I had a really good pace throughout Friday, throughout Saturday, until the races.

“And then maybe when the races come, I forget how to ride the MotoGP. I don’t know.”

“I'm not afraid of going home”

The Italian dismissed the idea that uncertainty over his MotoGP future is playing a role.

“Listen, I live with pressure. I’ve raced since I was 7. I've been dealing with pressure all my life. I've been dealing with the pressure of winning a world championship," he said.

“I'm not afraid of going home if I'm not worth it. 

"I'm not afraid of that. I'm not here to warm up my seat and get my pay cheque. I'm here to perform, to win, to do the maximum that I can. And at the moment it's not coming.

“Even though the team, the crew, myself, we are doing the maximum, we are giving our souls to do something.

“Also today, I made my fastest lap on the last lap. I gave everything, every single lap to keep everybody who was with me behind. But I clearly had less potential, I had less grip, I couldn't perform as I'm supposed to.

“It's really frustrating. But thankfully, the team is full of people who don't give up. We have a great atmosphere inside the team.

“We are ready to give everything we have in every single moment, and then hopefully we will come out of this situation.”

The former MotoGP title runner-up, currently 14th and last among the Ducati riders in the standings, insisted confidence is not the issue.

“I'm not missing confidence, I'm missing rear grip," he said.

Morbidelli on Bezzecchi's ban

Like most riders, Morbidelli was also asked for his opinion on Marco Bezzecchi's race ban for slapping a marshal.

One of the incidents cited by Aprilia when initially appealing the punishment was Aleix Espargaro striking Morbidelli's helmet during the Qatar MotoGP in 2023, for which the Spaniard received a 10,000 euro fine and a six-place grid penalty.

Asked if he had an opinion on the punishment given to his close friend Bezzecchi, Morbidelli replied:

“Yeah. I do have an opinion. Then Espargaro should have skipped that race in Qatar as well. Because I'm a person. The [marshal] is a person. 

"And what Marco did was a mistake and was a bad thing, for sure. And I understand the penalty and I understand the penalty and everything.

“If I put my ego out, I think about myself and when that time it happened to me, when a guy that was racing with me made that gesture on me. And nothing happened to him that time.

“OK, things have changed in three years; Stewards got more sensitive on this. OK, I understand. And I understand the penalty that was given to Marco.”