MotoGP, grid revolution: Franco Morbidelli takes big risk
The MotoGP World Championship has three categories and a total of 76 riders, including 22 in the premier class, from 21 different nationalities. This is a good result, but there remains an imbalance: 32 riders are Spanish and 12 are Italian, or about 57 percent of the total. However, until recently this was not considered a problem by CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, in fact he himself had said, “We want the best, no matter where they come from.” With the arrival of Liberty Media, however, they want to make the championship more diverse, thus reducing the Spanish and Italian nationalities. This is reported by Motorsport.com.
Among the riders who are likely to be penalized by this new situation is Franco Morbidelli, now in the VR46 team. The future of the first member of Valentino Rossi’s Academy is uncertain: the team has already taken Fermin Aldeguer for 2027 and also seems close to an agreement with Fabio Di Giannantonio. ‘Franky,’ though, had an opportunity he never took advantage of: he was born in Rome, with an Italian father and Brazilian mother. This dual citizenship, if exploited sooner, could have given him more opportunities in a championship that is increasingly attentive to the presence of drivers from different countries.
The Italian driver, though, did not hide his initial intentions: “I thought about racing as a Brazilian when I was to start my career in the World Championship between 2013 and 2014”-he admitted to Motorsport.com – . Alessio Salucci mentioned to me that this could be an interesting possibility, but in the end I decided to race under the Italian flag, since I was born and have always lived in Italy.”
However, despite the new rules that Liberty Media wants to implement, Franco Morbidelli has one certainty: “I will not change flag, I started with the Italian one and that is the one I will end up with, but everyone knows the great love I have for my two countries.”
Not only Franco Morbidelli, but other drivers could also be affected by this situation. In 2027, important names are likely to be without bikes, such as the Spaniards: the 2020 world champion Joan Mir, Maverick Viñales (26 motoGP wins) and Alex Rins (18 motoGP wins). In contrast, riders such as Australian Jack Miller and South African Brad Binder remain in demand even without great results. However, this also makes it more difficult for young people, such as Manuel Gonzalez, who did not make it to MotoGP this year partly because of his Spanish nationality.
