The Ducati GP24 – the consensus choice right now for the greatest MotoGP bike ever built – has richly rewarded those who had manoeuvred themselves into a position to ride it, whether it’s through a first podium (Fermin Aldeguer), first title (Jorge Martin) or a career-changing run of form (Alex Marquez).
Only one rider – Franco Morbidelli – has had the privilege of the GP24 for multiple seasons at this point, and yet the argument is persuasive that Morbidelli may have made the least of it so far compared to his peers.
From the difficult start to his time as a Ducati rider, conditioned by the brain injury suffered in the 2024 pre-season, to his recent return from a more minor injury absence, Morbidelli has topped out with a best finish of third in either the sprint portion or the grand prix portion of a weekend.
And the why of it is a more interesting question than it seems at first.
Popular perception of Morbidelli increasingly seems to skew towards that of an over-aggressive, past-his-best rider hobbled by injuries and lacking the spark of pace that justifies as cushy a gig as a place at VR46 riding the best bike on the grid.
