After his debut MotoGP victory at꧋ Misano, Franco Morbidelli began thinking "that maybe I could have fought for something bigger" in terms of the world championship.

But the Petronღas star, the only Yamaha rider without a♚ Factory-spec bike this year, feels he will need to reset his expectations after witnessing the top speed difference in Sunday's Catalunya race.

"After seeing my potential in a straight-line here being even less than the other Yamahas, I need 🤪to step bac🌼k, try to relax, enjoy every lap, every race and not think about anything else," he said.

"Just do my job without thinking about anything spe💜cial in the championship because, as I already said, Factory riders need to think about the championship, but I realised this even more in this track with such a long straight."

While all the Yamahas are suffering in a straight line this season, Morbidelli was tied with April🍬ia's Bradley Smith for the slowest top speed during the race at 337.5km/h.

Monster Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales were only 1km/h quicker, with Morbidelli's race-winning team-mate Fabio Quart🌱araro the fastest M1 at 343.9km/h, albeit some🐓 way off Francesco Bagnaia's 351.7km/h for Pramac Ducati.

But those one-off peak speeds are more influenced by slipstreaming, 🐈and an average of each rider's top five 🌳speeds is more representative.

In that respect, Morbidel𒈔li's average was a 335.🐈3km/h, the slowest of anyone, with Vinales on 337.0km/h, Rossi 338.5km/h and Quartararo 339.1km/h.

The other statistic that stood out for Morbidelli was during the closing stages of the race when his top speed was between 329-335km/h. But over those same la𒐪ps, Bagnaia was clocking 347-352km/h!

"This weekend I was 6 km/h slower than the other Yamahas, and at the end of the race I was 22 km/h slower t♐han the Ducati," Morbidelli said.

That speed difference also has a major impact𒁏 on t🦹he Italian's tyre preservation.

"You can manage the tyre when you have powe🔯r in a straight line, and I'm clearly the weakest in the field from this point of view," he explained.

"I just had to start, make the maximum, and couldn't make any strategy. I couldn▨'t manage the tyres because I just wanted to give the maximum when I had the tyre, and finally I de﷽stroyed everything.

"But I sill think it was the best strategy to do🤡 for me and for my package."

Morbidelli ultimately droppe🐲d from pole position to fourth place in Sunday's race, but that still beat his best result prior to this season and – despite two DNFs and a 15th place - he's fifth in the world championship.

"We clearly improved compared to last year. I am clearly a bette꧑r athlete, more professional and I'm more serious on trac♏k. I work better with the crew and this affects a lot our results," said the Italian.

"Actﷺually our results are very good. I am very happy about how we are doing. We've been very unlucky and we are still fifth in the world championship. This is amazing."

Morbidelli is 31 points behind team-mate and world championship leader Fabio Quartararo, who has𒐪 the same Factor🌌y-spec machinery as the official Yamaha team.