At this moment it must not be easy to be Fabio Quartararo. After the podium two weeks ago in Austin, the Frenchman had circled the Jerez de la Frontera weekend in red, a track on paper friend for Yamaha, even in a difficult moment like the one the Iwata manufacturer is experiencing from the point of view technician.
A hope that could not have been further from reality: left out of Q2 on Friday, “El Diablo” was unable to pass the cut this morning either, finding himself 16th on the grid. A position from which he was only able to climb up to 12th place in the Sprint, thus remaining out of the points.
It must be said that he was also a bit unlucky though, because the race had a double start due to an accident that caused a red flag and the first start was better for him, as he told Canal+.
“At the first start I managed to get a good start. I gained nine positions on the first lap. It’s the first time this has happened to me in my entire career, so it was a good start. In the second race I did more or less the same start, but the others did a better first lap” said Quartararo.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Already yesterday, the reigning vice-world champion had been rather critical of Yamaha, saying that the M1 is slowly losing its strengths. Today, however, he has increased the dose, adding that the Iwata company is probably also sleeping a little compared to the competition.
“We’ll have to try to find a solution for tomorrow and above all a solution to at least stay behind another rider, to stay close and try to overtake because right now it’s really a nightmare. We’ll have to really move and change our mentality”.
“We’ve lost almost all of our strengths, for example we no longer make a difference in speed. Braking is still one of our strengths. We’ll have to find a solution and, above all, change the team’s mentality because I think we’re more sleeping than doing anything good.”
When asked what expectations he has for tomorrow’s race, he concluded: “To do better, but honestly, starting 16th it’s difficult to hope for anything, above all because when we’re behind a rider we can’t drive. We’ll try to make a good start and get a good result”.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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