With it now finally confirmed that Franco Morbidelli has signed for Prima Pramac Racing in 2024, any doubts about how much the 28 year-old does or does not deserve the move can be swiftly annulled by understanding just how many parties benefit from his defection to Ducati.

Morbidelli has struggled massively since the injury he sustained in early 2021. As teammate Fabio Quartararo swept to the MotoGP title during that season, his eventual return has failed to yield any success akin to the Frenchman’s or that which he enjoyed himself during the 2020 campaign.

The Yamaha YZR-M1 machine has been usurped by the dominant Ducati Desmodedici in the last couple of years. Morbidelli has never even stood on the podium since his return to racing in the final few races of the 2021 season, while Quartararo has at least remained competitive enough to challenge for the title that he ultimately lost in 2022.

In 2023 however, Quartararo has also slipped down the order. The two Yamaha riders are now far closer to each other than they have ever been, which reflects well on Morbidelli.

Yamaha have kept their faith in Italian through these difficult times. However, in signing Alex Rins to partner Quartararo next season, they have given Morbidelli the break he needs in the sport.

The move to Pramac is convenient one for a lot more parties than just Morbidelli himself, who goes from the fourth best MotoGP bike to the first.

Firstly, Yamaha are freed of a rider who has grown frustrated with the incessant questions over his future not just in the recent months but recent years. His return to competition in 2021 was not to satellite squad Petronas Sepang Racing Team but to the factory outfit after the breakdown of relations with Maverick Vinales.

The deal was announced as a two and a half year contract. The length of the deal was unusual not due to its inception halfway through a calendar year but rather in coming to an end at the close of 2023, when most other riders were locked in at that point only until the end of 2022.

Morbidelli was thus relentlessly pounded by questions from the media about whether he could be expected to finish out his contract following the dismal results upon his return that have barely improved over time.

Now that his future is settled, Morbidelli parts with Yamaha on good terms despite the hard times they have endured since 2021. Both move on to better prospects – Morbidelli to the best bike on the grid and Yamaha partnering with one of the best and most proven riders on an inline-four machine: Alex Rins.

The example of Alex Marquez enjoying an immediate upturn in form upon his switch to Ducati from Honda this year should be all the evidence required for Morbidelli to make a similar jump up the competitive order in 2024.

Unlike Marquez, Morbidelli gets a factory bike, even more reason to enthuse about his prospects for 2024.

Ducati desperately wanted the rider due to the performances he showed back in his title-challenging year of 2020 but also because of his nationality.

Another Italian in its roster and one with a proven pedigree (albeit not witnessed much in the last three years) is a perfect scenario for the Italian marque, not just in the hiring of the Rome-born racer but in the consequences of his poaching.

It means that Ducati now has another Italian rider in contention for promotion to its factory team should Enea Bastianini continue to struggle in 2024. His return from injury has been eerily similar to Morbidelli’s. 2020 Morbidelli was as big a surprise as 2022 Bastianini, but both struggled alongside their championship-contending teammates upon their return and failed to make much progress.

Bastianini, like Morbidelli, has rightly been given more time to improve. Indeed, the former has suffered from another injury setback sustained in the Catalan GP. However, he now finds himself with the same unenviable level of media pressure that Morbidelli has been burdened with for the recent past.

Further down the Ducati roster, signing Morbidelli to Pramac shuts the door to Marc Marquez and pushes him into the clutches of Gresini Racing. This works for Ducati, who have publicly stated that they would prefer to promote Italian talent. However, they are not completely opposed to running Marquez and in fact forcing him down the satellite ladder to Gresini works perfectly well for them.

A shock move to Gresini would be a hire by the team itself. Marquez would not be a Ducati-contracted rider. This way, Ducati would not have to pay Marquez or make any concessions to him.

Furthermore, he would be competing on a GP23 Desmodedici. If Marquez were to prove faster than some or all of Ducati’s riders on a year-old bike next season, it would answer all of the manufacturer’s doubts about signing Marquez proper for 2025 and beyond.

If the aforementioned Enea Bastianini does fail to rediscover his 2021 and 2022 form next year, a door may be open to sign the defining rider of the modern MotoGP era as his replacement while reaping the benefits of Marquez potentially winning for Ducati for free for a whole year.

Failing that, they already have Morbidelli himself, the impressive Jorge Martin or Marco Bezzecchi to evaluate for promotion with or without the consideration of Marc Marquez.

Furthermore, series owner Dorna and for the same reason the fans of MotoGP have also won from Ducati’s decision to hire Morbidelli.

Marquez has now been left with a straight choice – persevere at Honda for another year or complete a sensational move to race alongside his brother at the smallest team in the series. If he chooses the latter, interest in the sport would surely increase even in the unlikely event that the results disappoint.

Signing another Italian to race for Ducati in MotoGP is also a perfectly timed move due to the lack of talent coming from Moto2 that is either affiliated to the country or the marque.

The only Italian candidate in the discussion for promotion to MotoGP is Tony Arbolino, who has endured a decline in performance as this year has progressed. Another season in Moto2 would not do the 23 year-old or his prospective employer any harm, especially because Ducati has replaced one Italian on its bike (Fabio di Giannantonio) with another (Morbidelli) already for the next campaign.

Finally, the other big winner from the Morbidelli move is his mentor Valentino Rossi.

While Rossi’s Mooney VR46 team enjoys a breakthrough year with Marco Bezzecchi challenging for wins on a semi-regular basis, the Italian legend benefits in more ways than one from having another of his proteges lineup on a more competitive bike.

Rossi was keen not to lose Bezzecchi to Pramac despite the Italian clearly being worthy of a promotion to the ride now earmarked by Morbidelli. Pramac, with its two factory bikes, is considering as its primary satellite team by Ducati who were adamant they would not supply 2024 machinery to five riders and three teams.

Rossi has convinced Bezzecchi to stay put at least for another year with teh latter admitting that he shines with the family environment at VR46. With Morbidelli now taking the vacant seat at Pramac, it means that Rossi has all ‘his’ riders where he wants them to be next season.

Signing Morbidelli and not forcing Bezzecchi to switch to Pramac appeases Rossi as it is a sign of Ducati listening to him at a time when the relationship between the two is uncertain beyond the end of 2024.

Rossi maintains close links to Yamaha, who have been without a customer team in MotoGP since the beginning of this season after RNF defected to Aprilia.

It will always remain logical given the history between the two from his riding days that Rossi should run Yamaha machinery in his fledgling MotoGP team. Ducati must continue to keep Rossi onside if they wish to prevent him form making a hitherto obvious defection to his previous employer.

Bringing in Morbidelli means Ducati does not have to rely solely on their better performing bike than Yamaha’s to continue their relationship with Rossi in 2025 and beyond. They have shown that there is valuable synergy in having all of Rossi’s Italian riders racing on homegrown bikes. There would be little reason for this not to stay the same so long as the Desmodedici remains superior to the M1.

Giving up on Morbidelli is in a way exactly what the rider and his boss wanted Yamaha to do. The Japanese marque gets its hands on Alex Rins who should bring some valuable development expertise to the bike, which in the long term may pay dividends when it comes to convincing Rossi to defect from Yamaha.

Therefore, Morbidelli’s long awaited move to Pramac has provided many other parties with fantastic opportunities for 2024 and beyond and has left literally no-one worse off among those involved (or even those not) with the switch, bar some of his fellow competitors that may now be threatened by the long mooted team-up. That should be enough to quash any lingering doubts about whether he deserves the ride or not.