Morbidelli "standing up for myself" in questioning his own Yamaha MotoGP future

The 2020 championship runner-up is facing an uncertain MotoGP future as his Yamaha contract comes to an end at the conclusion of this season, with his results since last year not matching those of when he was part of Petronas SRT.

Morbidelli has repeatedly faced questions about his future in recent rounds, with the Italian telling Autosport in an exclusive interview at the French GP that he had full "trust" from Yamaha in securing a seat for 2024.

After last weekend's Italian GP, in which Morbidelli finished 10th ahead of team-mate Fabio Quartararo having also outqualified him, he was asked if this result was important in securing his Yamaha future.

When Morbidelli was asked: "Do you think results like that can help?" He replied: "To do what?"

The interviewer then said: "To secure another year with Yamaha?" Morbidelli responded: "Do I want to secure another year with Yamaha?"

Asked to explain his comments on Thursday ahead of this weekend's German Grand Prix, Morbidelli said: "That interview made a lot of noise, apparently. Many people spoke to me about that interview.

"So, it's anyway nice to stand up for myself and defend myself and make not only the journalists but also the press and the people realise that my speed at the moment is very acceptable, because it's matching the [2021] world champion's speed and is matching the speed of a guy who has always been able to make a huge difference on his team-mates.

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

"After this quarter of the championship, it's [his pace] very similar to mine. It looks like some of you were not realising that, and were asking me continuously if I was hoping for my contract to be renewed and if I was hoping Yamaha would keep me.

"It was nice to stand up for myself and open some eyes. About the future, we are discussing still.

"Nothing is clear. Gianluca Falcioni from VR46 is dealing with this very well, as always, as he has always done in my career.

"We have been together for a lot of years, I trust him fully, I trust VR46 fully. I believe that we are all going to take the best choice possible.

"It's no secret that I have a special care for Yamaha. I have always been in MotoGP basically with Yamaha, apart from the first year, and I have reached great results with Yamaha.

"I didn't reach the results I wanted to get with the factory Yamaha team. I'm planning on this and one of my objectives when I joined this team was this."

When asked if Yamaha was still his priority for 2024, Morbidelli said: "Yes. I'm waiting for the best choice possible, but if you want to know better you need to speak to Gianluca Falcioni."

Ahead of this weekend's Sachsenring race, Morbidelli is 13th in the standings on 46 points having achieved a best of fourth in the Argentina sprint and grand prix.

Quartararo is eighth on 54 points having tallied up a podium in the Americas GP in what has so far been a lacklustre campaign for Yamaha.