VR46 rider Franco Morbidelli has come under fire again from his MotoGP peers - but this time it may have more to do with his reputation than his actual on-track actions.
Morbidelli has in recent years garnered the reputation of MotoGP's problem child, bolstered in 2025 by big collisions with Maverick Vinales at Mugello - Vinales described by his Tech3 team as "another victim added to the big list" of Morbidelli's victims - and Jorge Martin at Barcelona.
He had felt singled out by some of the criticism, but also appeared to have found a good understanding with the new stewarding regime headed up by Simon Crafar, admitting recently that he had adjusted how he races due to the stewards pegging him as a repeat offender.
But he got on two separate rivals' nerves in last weekend's Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika - and one of those rivals was a team-mate.
Fabio Di Giannantonio fumed after the sprint: "Unfortunately my team-mate ruined, again, one of my races, with stupid overtakes."
He didn't go into further detail but it appeared to be connected to a Turn 10-11 exchange in which, after Di Giannantonio got past, Morbidelli stuck the bike back down the inside and Di Giannantonio couldn't lean into the corner, instead running out wide and slipping behind Marc Marquez and Brad Binder.
Then on Sunday Jack Miller had a grievance of his own.
"Three laps to the end, Frankie came past me - [Turns] 11 to 12, the only reason we didn't make contact is because I heard a bike when I shut my gas, I heard a bike, 'rraaaagh', coming in on me, then I was off the end of the track and Diggia came through as well. Tyres were a little bit dirty going out of the line, and next time I got on the left-hand side I'm on my head."
Being informed of Miller's point by The Race during his own media debrief triggered a five-minute, almost-uninterrupted response from Morbidelli, which is highly unusual for a post-race MotoGP scrum - and strongly suggested he is exhausted at having to face criticism on such a regular basis.
Morbidelli's full response: 'I am fierce - I am never malicious'
“Yes. Yes, yes. This is a really interesting matter. I heard some complaints about my overtakings yesterday and today. But I have to say that Simon [Crafar] is big-time on it. I mean, he's controlling my overtakings in a very clinical way. And we've been talking a lot about my overtakings.
"And I relate myself to Simon's judgment. And I always respect Simon's judgment - and everybody should do that. Everybody should relate to Simon's judgment, which is really, really fair, consistent and well-explained.
"Even though we all know I'm a fierce rider, I attack whenever I can, I bring myself forward whenever I can, sometimes I make mistakes, yes. But I'm never malicious. And this year I had my time in the [stewards'] office with Simon, we spoke a lot, he spoke a lot to me, he made me understand how an overtaking should be brought to a rider, how an overtaking should be brought in such a MotoGP, a MotoGP where it's so difficult to overtake because when you're behind somebody your potential drops by quite a lot.
"And anyway, the speed that the bike has is so difficult to surpass. So, in such a difficult category, anyway if you want to do an overtaking, if you feel you can do an overtaking, you've got to do it. For sure without putting the other rider at risk, without touching the other rider, without forcing the other rider to go off-track, without being dangerous. And that's the limit. And that's the limit I'm always trying to respect.
"And that's the limit that Simon always makes the rider respect. And he's done that in a really good way this year. So, we should all relate to Simon's judgement.
"OK, I know, it's difficult to accept an overtaking, I know an overtaking, for example, like Marc's to Joan [Mir] in Japan - maybe you go wide, you lose some more time than what he [Mir] should. It's a bit frustrating.
"But this is still racing, and it's still for me totally OK. And this is what the crowd likes to see, this is what motorcycles are all about. Or mostly about.
"So... what I think is that we have a great referee. I spoke with him many times and I paid his countermeasures [served penalties] quite some times this year. And I have to say that every countermeasure he took was right.
"And I have to say we spoke a lot, and I have to say he explained to me a lot, and I have to say that I changed my way of being - the same, anyway, fierce [rider] but totally inside Simon's judgement. I understand [the discontent], I totally understand, but I don't see the point of complaining so much."
It is worth noting that Miller ultimately did acknowledge he himself "f**ked it up" in his actual crash.
Di Giannantonio, when asked about the Miller incident with Morbidelli, given he had a great view of it, couldn't recall it initially but said: "It would not be unusual. I don't remember but I would not be surprised."
However, with his memory jogged a bit more, he seemed to change his tone: "No, well, today was racing, was OK."
The fact of the matter ultimately was that nothing Morbidelli did at Mandalika - at least among those moves caught by the cameras - was even particularly close to the limit.
There is a grid-wide acknowledgment that overtaking is not easy and that usually you have to compromise the rider in front to make the move - as long as you do not hit them or endanger them.
Di Giannantonio on Saturday seemed more irritated by the fact Morbidelli was struggling for pace relative to him and yet made his life very difficult to get past.
He has had valid complaints about his team-mate from earlier this season - which heightened the frustration this time - but in the Mandalika case his gripe should not be with Morbidelli.
Ultimately, it was Morbidelli's job to stay as far up the order as possible and make overtaking him as difficult as possible. It is how he scores points in his Ducati stint - his race pace is usually too fragile to rely on, so he has to get his position and get the elbows out. Brad Binder at KTM is very similar right now, though he has been far more successful at staying on the right side of the limit.
Whether Morbidelli should give Di Giannantonio more leeway - well, he probably should, yes. But that edict has to come from above within VR46, and there is zero indication such an edict has ever been issued. So there is no real incentive for Morbidelli to make things easier for Di Giannantonio, something that would actively come as a detriment to his own career.
The Miller move was indeed as Miller described it, but ultimately fell firmly under the category of conventional MotoGP racing - if Morbidelli was penalised for it, riders would picket the stewards' office.
On the available evidence, Morbidelli rode completely fine this weekend and has good grounds to be irritated by his riding being questioned again. But, of course, it is also a situation of his own making.
It is also a consequence of the fact he has not been penalised harshly enough for past transgressions.
Had he sat out a race between then and now, perhaps his peers and certainly fans would not feel that he's routinely getting away with things - even if this time there was nothing to get away with.
