After a shock Q1 demotion, Petronas Yamaha’s Franky Morbidelli battled back to claim his first front row start of the MotoGP season, qualifying in second ahead of Jerez’s SpanishGP.
Morbidelli faced a difficult route through qualifying after having two laps cancelled for exceeding track limits in FP3 - the Italian originally thinking he was through to Q2 after his 1’37.083 lap placed him seventh with the second deletion, which placed him 11th, not being issued until minutes before FP4’s afternoon outing.
Undeterred, the Roman made short work of the first qualifying session, easily posting the fastest time - a 1’36.916 - to sit over four-tenths clear of Brad Binder’s next best effort as he advanced into Q2. His good form around the Andalucian layout continued, as his first hot-lap of the final 15-minutes placed him second, just 0.005s behind the factory M1 of Fabio Quartararo, with the position holding at the end of the session.
“Pretty busy day!” A permanently laid-back Morbidelli commented from Parc Ferme.
“This morning I got both laps cancelled. I was really on the limit to make those lap times and unfortunately I went just a little bit outside from the track and I got my laps cancelled and I needed to go through Q1. We got informed right before FP4 so there was a little bit of a mess in the pit box because we didn't have enough tyres but finally we were able to overcome it quite well.
"I was able to be very fast in Q1 and decently fast in Q2 and finally we managed to get this front row which is always positive for us, so I'm really happy about the day.
“It was right to cancel both of my lap times this morning” he reflected before elaborating on the safety elements at play.
“Maybe it wasn't right, the timing, because I got informed really late and we didn't really have the tyres, so we needed to go, get the tyres, put them in the tyre rack, warm them up, and hope that they would have warmed up enough for Q2 - if I reached Q2! So we faced a safety issue this afternoon.
“Luckily the temperature was high enough to ride medium and soft, to have more choices, and more tyres to use. If the temperature would have been low to just allow us to ride one tyre spec, then we would have been in big trouble, in a safety trouble. Luckily it wasn't the case but I think we are going to ask the steward panel to make a rule at least to give the information within a certain time because after that certain time, it gets dangerous because you don't have the tyres” the matter-of-fact Italian explained.
“Q1 is a battlefield and where you can get trapped” he continued. “You have to go exactly with the commitment you have if you went to Q2, so you have to go full commitment, because you can get trapped in Q1.
“The level in MotoGP is so high, it's unbelievable, and you cannot lose anything. You cannot lose one inch, or you cannot lose the focus for one-tenth, so it's difficult but it's engaging and it's nice to be part of it.
“I think that being fast in the last sector of the track is always a good weapon that the rider has, because the last sector is usually the last chance. Being fast in that sector is quite important, so I'm happy about it. We will have to see how the race is going to develop but we have our strong points this weekend.”
The Petronas rider also faced a major moment at the final corner with an impressive save allowing him to continue the session.
“I knew that I was really on the limit on that corner, especially that lap, I wanted to go all or nothing, so I was ready to react because I knew that I was really on the limit with the soft front. So I was ready to do something strong, and I managed to recover the front folding and I'm really happy because it's a thing that we see more and more in MotoGP and in Moto2. I never really managed to save a crash this way so I'm really happy, it means I'm growing up, I'm happy.
“I know this bike so well and it's true that maybe on the technical point of view is not an advantage but is an advantage maybe in the point of view of developing of yourself. I think that, two, three years ago I would not have done a save like you saw today, but the more you ride the same bike, the more your ears get sensitive, so the more you're ready to feel every small thing that happens on your bike and I know very well what is going on, on my bike because I ride it since a lot of time.
“I knew that the feeling was great with the bike, and I knew that if I had the right chance and if I could push really hard, I could do something good, so I knew our potential today. Unfortunately we needed to go through many, many difficulties but it's always like this. Finally we managed to overcome them so I'm really happy about that. I'm really happy about today and the job of the team during this weekend has been amazing.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Morbidelli remained confident, having shown consistent pace across the weekend so far.
“I need to see the pace of the other riders in FP4 but I have a good feeling” he said.
“I'm able to maintain my rhythm for quite a lot of laps, so I'm quite confident about myself. I need to see how is the level around, but for sure, starting from the front row and having the consistency that I felt in FP4, it's a good starting point to aim for a podium tomorrow.
“I think we are much better [than in 2020] because we are able to make similar results with one year more gap compared to the other manufacturers. I said in the beginning of the year if you wanted to remain in similar positions as last year, we needed to get better. Not by the material but by the work, because it's the only thing we have. We managed to do it quite well today and yesterday as well, so I hope we are going to do it also tomorrow.”
