Morbidelli at risk of penalty after “special warning” over MotoGP offences

​Franco Morbidelli has said the MotoGP stewards have placed him under a “special warning” after the events of recent weeks and he risks getting a ride-through penalty if he commits another offence.

Morbidelli was penalised twice during the Catalan Grand Prix last weekend, first for taking out Aprilia’s Jorge Martin in the sprint and again on Sunday for “disobeying direct instructions from marshals” after crashing out of the main race. 

The Italian was given a long-lap penalty for causing a collision with Martin, while on the second occasion, the stewards imposed a fine and suspended him from the first 10 minutes of running in FP1 at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Having also previously fallen foul of the rules on a number of occasions in the last few years, the stewards have now warned him that they are going to take an even stricter stance with him in the future – although the possibility of a race ban has been ruled out.

“I heard a story that somebody put out that authorities told me that I’m going to skip a race if I make another offence,” he said, dismissing the claim.

“I’m going to have a ride-through if I have another offence. The stewards will judge offensively.”

Morbidelli described the situation as being given an ‘orange card’ in football, a concept proposed as a middle ground between yellow card and a red card.

While long lap penalties have become common since their introduction in 2019, ride-through penalties are rarely issued in MotoGP.

In response to the increased scrutiny from the stewards, the VR46 rider said he is ready to turn down his aggression, even if that means his rivals would have an edge in direct battles with him.

“I’m gonna definitely have to be less aggressive for some things that can be read as offensive,” he said.

“This is an advantage for my opponents, that if they are good, they can for sure use this to their advantage. But that’s what I have to do in order to not go through any episode that can be read as offensive or not.”

He added: “The deal is that I need to pay more attention to some moves that I do. And that’s what I will try to do. To convince me even more on doing this, the stewards give me this kind of special warning. And that’s what I will try to do. 

“I will work to be definitely less aggressive and definitely more precise. But in the meantime, I will have to completely shut the aggression button. Because if I make a mistake, I’m gonna pay it quite heavily.”