The Italian, just 19th in the world championship - then led by Fabio Quartararo - entering the summer break a year 🍌ago, began this year’s holiday period eleventh in the standings, just two places behind his team-mate.

Whether it🌞 will be enough to secure a factory Yamaha contract extension, assuming Morbidelli wants one, is stil🎃l to be revealed.

But the former title runღner-up believes the key to closing the gap to Quartararo - and beating the Frenchman in several Sunday races this season - was to accept that it was⛦ futile to try and mould the M1 back into the smooth machine of the past.

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“Halfway through last year I realised that if I wanted to make a step, I needed to change, not the bike,” Morbidelli explained. “So I had to completely flip around my nature, become ♚more aggressive, and🔜 this winter I worked more on that.

“I started this season with a different approach while riding and a different approach generally to the weekend. And that's what has been paying off to be able to extract c🌳lose to the maximum potential ✤of the bike.

“Last year it was oꦍnly Fabio that was able to extract that, this year we can also.🤡”

Morbidelli has a best finish of🐷 fourth so far this🔜 season, compared with third for Quartararo.