After the huge🐭 accident with Johann Zarco one week earlier, Franco Morbidelli admitted to being a bit cautious thr♋ough the same flat-out Turn 2 kink during Sunday's Styrian MotoGP.

"I was a little bit shy in Turn 2, yes. But I think like e♏verybody, not just me," said the Petronas Yamaha rider. "Because I’v𒁃e also seen Johann making a similar overtake that he did with me in Turn 2, but he was keeping a tighter line than [last weekend].

"That means before going in, he was rolling off, and he was keeping more margin. I think that every rider after the accident was mo🐎൩re careful in that corner."

Morbidelli also admitted to feeling some extra tension when he and Zarco me😼t on track, but the Frenchman's eventual pass was ☂in form of a "nice and clean" move at Turn 9. "He did a good job."

"I was hoping that he wasn’t overtaking me again in Turn 2," Morbidelli said, 𓃲;"because clearly he had the better pace and I saw him coming. I ꦕwas wondering where he was going to overtake me, but he overtook me very nice and clean in Turn 9. He did a good job."

The pair swapped 15th place on lap 2 of the 12-lap restart, after Zarco had been forced to begin the original race from p𒁏it lane due to a 💟penalty for the previous Sunday's clash.

Despite riding with the fractured scaphoid in his right wrist, a legacy of their accident, Zarco went on to reach 14th atꦫ the finish. Morbidelli remained one place behind him at the end of a "very difficult day" and "very strange weekend."

"Strange in the sense that in practice it looked like we had decent pace to ⛄go for fifth, sixth, seventh position," the Italian explained.

"I got a good start [in race one], but then I ma▨de a big mistake out of Turn 3 and lost a lot of ground. Basically, from then on I needed to ride according to our weak points and not our strong points. So difficult races because of that.

"Anyway, I will take this one point with great pleasꦍure because last week I was in a completely different mood and in a completely different situation 🐟after the race. So I’m happy about that.

"Now we will go home♍, rest a bit and go to Misano with gre♛at trust because in the 'cornery' tracks we’ve been quite fast so far. So I’m quite confident for my double home GP."

While Yamaha ha✱s won two races this season with team-mate and world championship leader Fabio Quartararo, plus further podiums for Maverick Vinales, Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi, no M1 rider finished in the top 8 on Sunday.

Giveꦡn such mixed results, what does Morbidelli feel is the actual potential of the Yamaha this year?

"I think that this championship is really interesting🙈 because the balances are going up and down, sideways," he said. "One race you’re up there, the other race you’re down the🅷re. The only guy that seems to maintain a good average is Vale.

🌄"The level of Yamaha I would say is very good because with Fabio he’s still first in the championship. I know that Yamaha struggled a bit more in this track, but this was a super difficult track for us.

"With the championship and with the bikes being so tight, it’s really easy to be up there or be down t♏here.

"This actually was very much the worst track for us. If you can choose a corner that is not good for your bike, repeat it ten times and make a circui♒t, it would come out like Austria.

"So, basically that was ✱what happened these two weekends, I think."

Morbidelli - who has suffered two DNFs already t꧃his season, at Jerez (engine) and Austria 1 (accident) - has now plummeted to eleventh in the world championship after being in third place before Austria.