High five

“I was scared that Franco was going away, but was too excited” –Quartararo

FRANCO MORBIDELLI (Petronas SRT Yamaha) put the message on his one-off helmet livery, inspired by Spike Lee’s seminal film Do The Right Thing, into action at home to emphatically announce his arrival as a genuine premier-class force.

Throughout 2019, the laidback Italian was regularly reduced to a whipping boy by his younger teammate Fabio Quartararo. But how he has bounced back. Leaner, fitter and riding his Yamaha YZRM1 in a smoother manner in his second season on the bike, Morbidelli scrapped with master and mentor Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha), before breaking clear to cruise to his first MotoGP win.

This was a remarkable recovery from the Austrian Grand Prix, when a 270km/h collision left Morbidelli battered, swollen and shaken for the Styrian bout. Here he was the definition of calm, building up