Yamaha 'laboratory', Quartararo: “A weekend of experiments”

The comeback after the mistake at the start

Few points in the safe for Fabio Quartararo at the end of American Grand Prixwhich immediately started uphill for the Frenchman Yamaha and concluded at 12th place after a beautiful and complex comeback. Starting from sixteenth position on the starting grid, 'El Diablo' had to deal with the compact center of the group and the real risk of contacts, to the point of finish long during the first lap and relegated to 20th place.

Rins ends prematurely

From that moment, the 2021 world champion began a comeback that took him up to the points zone, also favored by some falls. Among these, also that of your teammate Alex Rinswho left the scene shortly after half-way through the race in the 11th of the 20 total laps, just as he was in 12th place: “The start was quite good – declared the Spaniard, who came out of the first corner in seventh position from the 15th spot on the grid – we have recovered about eight positions in the first lapbut in the Warm Up we tried a completely different bike to understand if this is the path to follow. In the Warm Up we only have 10 minutes for laps and I didn't feel any big differences. Perhaps the release of the brakes in the slow corners where we were in difficulty yesterday has also improved a little. We therefore decided to keep the setup for the race, and honestly it was a big mistake. Usually our bike is quite heavy when changing direction. In the race, with this set-up, it was even worse, so I was wasting time. Then I made a small mistake at turn 15. There are some bumps on the track and I may have faced a bump with a little more pressure on the front brakethus losing the front”.

The changes give rise to hope

Therefore, a race to forget for the former Suzuki, unlike Quartararo, fresh from his renewal with Yamaha until 2026 and satisfied with the team's work throughout the weekend: “Unfortunately on the first lap I went straight into turn 12 – explained the transalpine – I lost some positions but, honestly, I expected worse. My pace wasn't good, but the tire drop wasn't too bad. Maybe we could have gotten a better location, but I guess that's it weekend was full of experimentation and we focused above all on improving the bike. I started the race with a bike that I had never tried before. We know what we need and having a clear direction to work towards is good.”