Morbidelli Faces Same Stability Challenges as Bagnaia’s Ducati

Franco Morbidellihas started facing some of the same issues that troubledFrancesco BagnaiaThroughout the entire MotoGP season, but it’s still too soon to determine if they are essential or only applicable to certain tracks.

Two-time MotoGP champion Bagnaia faced significant issues with the stability of his Ducati at Phillip Island, as a video posted by the official social media account of the series revealed his Ducati shaking intensely on the start/finish straight during the warm-up session.

He eventually exited the race from 12th position with four laps left, stating that he lost control of the front of the bike while pushing the machine past its capabilities.

Morbidelli, on the other hand, came in a far behind 15th on a day when his teammateFabio di Giannantoniocame in second behind the race championRaul Fernandez.

Ahead of this weekend’sMalaysian Grand Prix, Bagnaia mentioned that Morbidelli has been experiencing the same stability problems in recent races as himself.

“Frankly, at the beginning of the season, I was pretty much the only one facing this issue. Now, Franky Morbidelli is also beginning to experience the same,” he explained.

We are simply trying to understand why, because if riders end up facing similar problems, it could become an issue for Ducati. Therefore, we are attempting to approach things differently to find a solution.

Morbidelli confirmed that he and Bagnaia have encountered comparable challenges in the past two races, but emphasized that it hasn’t always been the same situation.

“I’m not exactly aware of his issues; I’m familiar with his remarks regarding the bicycle. In Mandalika and Australia, our challenges were quite comparable, though not always,” he explained.

In Australia, my main challenge was the bike’s stability. That was the key problem. I couldn’t find a stable configuration that let me enter corners as I desired.

Nevertheless, Morbidelli warned that it was premature to make judgments based on Mandalika and Phillip Island, pointing out that both tracks are exceptions on the schedule.

“I’m not sure if those problems were specific to certain tracks. You can never be certain, but I never had issues like that,” he said.

In Mandalika, we faced challenges, but the tires were different. Two specific tracks, the last two ones. In Mandalika, we used different tires.

In Australia, it’s a distinctive track. It can be quite unpleasant if you don’t have the ideal emotion or the correct sensation. That was our situation.

But this one [Sepang] is more of a familiar type of track.

Bagnaia shows cautious hope regarding the Malaysian Grand Prix

Although Bagnaia didn’t manage to earn points in three of the past four races, he is still confident about his prospects in Malaysia, pointing to the pace he demonstrated during the pre-season test at Sepang in February.

I’m really excited about starting the weekend here. Firstly, because it’s a track I really like to ride,” he said. “Apart from the heat, which isn’t something I have too much trouble with, the layout here is amazing.

So I just want to have a good time this weekend. I’d like to begin with a positive mood on the bike. During the test here, I was very competitive. I came in second place and it felt great.

So I’m prepared to begin. We had good plans for the start of the weekend. Let’s see.

He stated, “We don’t need to be overly ambitious; approach situations with greater composure, and assess step by step whether we can make progress, as at circuits where we perform well, we have more room to experiment.”