MotoGP: Franco Morbidelli: “I’m angry for this fourth place. This is positive”
Mixed emotions from Franco Morbidelli as he was positively angry about taking fourth place.
Franco Morbidelli started the Catalunya race from pole position, finishing the race in fourth place after leading the first eight laps.
Eventually, on the ninth lap, Morbidelli was overtaken by teammate Fabio Quartararo who stormed to his third race win of the season before making a mistake on the 14th lap allowing Valentino Rossi to pass him before Rossi crashed out of the race.
“I am angry for this fourth place. And this is positive because it means we are on a great, great level, I had a wonderful start, and maybe I pushed too much and wore out the tyres a bit too much because I wasn’t ready to fight when Fabio arrived.” Said Morbidelli
“So, when I was behind him [Fabio] I was losing a little bit in the straight, and to catch up I had to risk a lot in braking and I made a mistake and I almost crashed into him.
“I needed to go straight and wide, and I lost two seconds, which are the ones which eventually made me lose the podium.”
“I am angry for this mistake, but I need to be happy about the overall weekend because I made pole position, I was fast in one lap and I was generally fast.”
“I wasn’t thinking about managing the tyre because only can you think about managing the tyre when you have power on the straight, I couldn’t make any strategy. I just had to start and make the maximum. I couldn’t manage the tyres because I wanted to give the maximum when there was [grip].”
Given these problems which cost Yamaha a double podium, we will see in the coming weeks if any upgrades will be planned in for the Misano race winner who has proven he deserves better machinery.
Featured image – www.motogp.com
