Morbidelli: "The heat is suffocating, you can hardly breathe"

February 12, 2022

In addition to catching up with the new Yamaha M1 2022 of the official team, Franco Morbidelli continues with the recovery process of the knee operated on last year and that kept him out of action for almost half a season.

The Italian closed the second day of the pre-season test in Indonesia with the 12th fastest time (1.31.849), just over half a second behind the day’s benchmark set by Luca Marini.

The most important thing for the Roman, however, is that he feels better and better from the injury.

“The leg is not going backwards like last year, when I was losing muscle in every race. The leg is at the level I expected. But in this category you have to be at the top of your possibilities, your form and your abilities. You have to always be at the top in all aspects”, explained the Yamaha rider.

Morbidelli described the state of the Mandalika circuit as “dangerous” on the first day of Friday.

“The track was still dirty, although much better than yesterday,” he said after this second day.

And in terms of benefits, they are clear about the only way to achieve what they are after.

“We have to work and work, there is no other formula”, he said in agreement with the opinion of his teammate Fabio Quartararo, who “was expecting a greater improvement of the bike”.

“The difference between the 2021 and 2022 engine is much smaller than between the 2019 and 2021 ones,” adds Franky, who “in preseason I am constantly improving; Every day I am getting better and I reduce the difference with respect to the first one. Today I stayed two tenths behind Fabio, but that’s not enough.”

Finally, the Italian wanted to highlight the extreme conditions that the pilots have encountered in Lombok.

“The heat is suffocating, worse than in Malaysia or Thailand. You can hardly breathe, probably because of the humidity,” he lamented.

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing