MotoGp, Franco Morbidelli furious over sanction: ‘They are afraid’

Yamaha centaur Franco Morbidelli angry at penalty incurred for overtaking

Yamaha centaur Franco Morbidelli, who finished 11th in Sepang, openly disputed the penalty he suffered for an overtaking move on Aleix Espargaró: “I managed to be in the fight for the top 10, I’m happy about that, and I overtook on the second-to-last corner of the last lap: we could stand here and argue for days about whether I went on Aleix or he closed on me, we could argue at length about the seriousness of such an overtaking move in a race like that, but I’d rather not.” “I found the stewards fearful, they are under pressure from the riders and teams who go and talk on television,” the Yamaha rider concluded.

Yamaha team manager Meregalli also criticized the decision: “We don’t play cards, honestly I find the 3-second penalty to Morbidelli ridiculous. Our sport is about overtaking even at the limit. We already struggle because of the engine to overtake, they go and penalize us for a hard but race maneuver then we might as well do something else…. So you risk ruining this category.”