In his six seasons in MotoGP, Fabio Quartararo has shared the garage with Franco Morbidelli in most of them. He made his debut in the premier class with Morbidelli in 2019, after Yamaha and its satellite team, the then Sepang Racing Team (SRT), chose him in a move that few expected.
On his debut in the premier class, Quartararo was the undoubted revelation, finishing fifth in the World Championship, while his teammate placed tenth. The following year, marked by the pandemic and the preferential treatment that “El Diablo” would receive – he had a fully-fledged official M1 – the roles were reversed and it was Morbidelli who showed his best form, so much so that he finished second, while Quartararo finished fifth.
Despite this difference, the boy from Nice was promoted to the official Yamaha team in 2021, the season in which he became world champion. Although he started the season as partner of Maverick Vinales, the Spaniard's indiscipline led to a mid-season breakup (Styria GP), which meant that the #20 and Morbidelli reunited in the final part of the season.
The two shared the garage in 2022 and 2023, with the Frenchman always ahead of the Roman, who in 2024 will race with a Prima Pramac Racing Ducati. A bad crash in a private test in Portimao, riding a Ducati Panigale, prevented him from taking part in last week's pre-season tests in Sepang and will also keep him away from next week's tests in Losail, where he will take part on 10 March. the World Championship begins.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The gap between Quartararo and Morbidelli has always been evident, also due to their very different characters: the former is much more extroverted than the latter. In Sepang, Yamaha's top man has already shared the garage with Rins, to whom he has always said he feels much closer. Not only because they both live in Andorra, but also on a personality level.
“I got on very well with Alex. In practice I spoke and had more contact with him in one test than with Morbidelli in four years. This is what I think and this is the reality,” admitted Quartararo in a chat with Motorsport. com during a break on the last day of operations in Malaysia.
“It's nice to be able to go to the other side of the garage and talk naturally. Before, when Franco was there, I didn't dare”, added the driver, who after the three days of testing, plus the Shakedown, concluded with a best lap which left him eight tenths behind the leader, Pecco Bagnaia, and four tenths ahead of Rins.
“With Alex there is this rivalry, he wants to beat me and I want to beat him. But I prefer to beat him by arriving first and him second, rather than arriving tenth and eleventh. We have a riding style which, even without being the same, has made us understand that the problems we have are the same”, added Quartararo.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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