Portrait of Franco Morbidelli Having Fun Playing Lato-Lato During the Launch of Yamaha YZR-M1 2023 New Livery in Jakarta

Franco Morbidelli admitted that he just went through the 2022 season feeling better. Now, he and Fabio Quartararo are ready to face the 2023 season, which will start in March. 

Morbidelli also thanked the support of fans in Indonesia who met at the moment of launching and the biggest meeting.

What caught the attention was that Franco Morbidelli tried to play the lato-lato at that moment. The former Moto2 world champion brought the lato-lato in his pocket.

After being pushed to play it, Morbidelli then tried it. However, the first attempt failed. Morbidelli seemed undeterred.

In the second attempt, Morbidelli finally succeeded in bouncing the two balls and creating a loud 'tek-tek' sound.

The lato-lato was successfully played by the man who used to be a rally driver for approximately 5 seconds. 'Thank you,' said Morbidelli briefly.

Morbidelli then described Indonesia with 3 words. "Colourful, lato-lato, and happy," said the racer who was in 7th position during the GP at Mandalika Circuit in 2022. 

Although recently there have been pros and cons, lato-lato is loved by children and adults. It briefly appeared in America, but it is banned from circulating in Uncle Sam's country because it is easily broken and can easily hurt children. 

In Indonesia, some schools have started banning their students from bringing lato-lato because it is considered noisy and disruptive to learning. In addition, there is concern that the object could come loose and injure students or be used as a weapon in fights. 

A while ago, news spread about a child in West Kalimantan who suffered an injury to the eye after being hit by fragments of a 'lato-lato' ball. The child had to undergo eye surgery because his eye was injured.

'Lato-lato' was popular in the 90s but faded away on its own. At the end of 2022 to early 2023, 'lato-lato' became popular again. In Makassar, 'lato-lato' changed to 'katto-katto', and in some areas in Java Island, it is called 'tek-tek' according to the sound it produces.