For Franco Morbidelli, a key season in his career is about to begin. He will start with the official Yamaha team colours, but he also comes from a difficult 2021, compromised by a knee problem which made him lose half the year. Morbido, in an exclusive video interview you can see above, spoke to us about the past but above all about his future.
We have to ask you how the winter went after the physical problems of last year.
“Yes, it’s back to work after a tough winter for me because I had to work quite hard to recover from last year’s injury that gave me some problems. It takes a lot of time and a lot of work to recover and we had to work hard during the winter, because last year at some point in the rehabilitation period I went back to racing, so I had, not exactly, abandoned but eased off on the rehabilitation to give priority to the upper body. I went under, just worked to recover the muscles of the leg and the complete movement of the knee and I would say that I am at a good point. We will have to see how the leg will behave on the track, you never know with MotoGP ”.
Were you able to train on a motorcycle?
“I did motocross and without any problems. I managed to do a few jumps and stay on the bike, but I didn’t ride any racing bikes. It will be a surprise”.
How difficult was it to deal with this injury from a mental point of view? It is never easy to decide to have an operation in the middle of the season.
“It was tough because of the extent of the injury, I could have continued to do my sport but I would have had to completely change my lifestyle and I didn’t want to. I threw myself into this challenge and now we have to get out of it, I’m sure everything will be as before, in the end it is nothing special, we are only talking about the cruciate and the meniscus, but it takes time and we are always impatient to get back to a good condition”.
Also because everyone wants to see the 2020 version of Morbidelli again. Is 2021 a year to forget?
“I tend to forget the bad results or bad seasons, but I can’t define last year as bad for me. Very nice things happened to me, like the promotion to the official team, how strong we were with Petronas, on some occasions we were really fast despite everything. I don’t feel like forgetting last season, I will remember it anyway for the challenges I had to face, but also for the many good things that happened to me ”.
Now the ‘right’ bike awaits you in the garage, the official one. What were you able to understand you riding it last year, even if not in perfect condition?
“It’s always a Yamaha with great rideability, that’s its strong point. It has improved in all aspects compared to the one I was riding and this is positive, but the strong points remain the smooth power delivery and the smoothness towards the rider”.
You will find a teammate you know very well: in 2019 he beat you, in 2020 you beat him, this time what will happen?
“We will see, it will be a good challenge and not only with Fabio. If I manage to return to the top levels, it will be a great challenge in general, there are many riders who can win races, many riders who can also aspire to the championship. It will be an explosive MotoGP”.
It will be your first season in an official team, the goals are higher …
“Absolutely, I will have to be able to fight to win, for the top positions in every race so that we can also fight for the championship”.
We have already mentioned Quartararo, add Bagnaia and Marquez. Are these the opponents to keep an eye on?
“Yes, but also Mir, Miller, Vinales who could go fast with the Aprilia and many other riders like Martin, Bastianini, who knows what the rookies will do (laughs). There are many riders who will be able to do well”.
Valentino has retired and knows this box very well; might it be useful to give him a call from time to time?
“For sure! (laughs) I’ll call him often, but we’ll also see each other and I’ll break his balls ”.
The rider transfer market has already started, is your goal to stay with Yamaha?
“I really like the atmosphere in Yamaha. In a way I grew up here, because there are people I have known through Vale since I was a child and I have done virtually my entire career in MotoGP with Yamaha, up to the official team. I’m very happy to stay here”.
After these tests, we will return to Sepang at the end of the season. At that moment you will be happy if …
“Malaysia is usually a very ‘hot’ moment in the championship, things get a bit incandescent, I’d be happy to be on the hot plate with someone else.”
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