The Friday of the Thai Grand Prix seemed like a breath of fresh air for Fabio Quartararo, who with direct access to Q2 believed he saw a light, albeit small, at the end of the tunnel. The stiffer carcass brought by Michelin had made the Yamaha more rideable and the Frenchman was very happy. However, the situation worsened again in today’s Sprint, in which he finished 11th after great difficulties in staying in the fight.
“I can’t get over it, it’s the same story as always,” he began El Diablo speaking to the media at the end of the short race in Buriram. “In practice, when I drive alone, I know exactly what I’m doing, we can make our own lines and we’re fast. But when we have someone in front of us, everything changes. At the start of the race I was with Pecco, Aleix Espargaro and Zarco, the riding style is totally different and I can’t do anything. I can’t even try to overtake, we’re too far away from them.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
A situation completely reversed compared to what was expected at the end of free practice, in which he had demonstrated speed and good pace: “My lap is what I expect to do, I was behind Martin, I did my best. I never felt too on the limit on that lap, but that’s the margin. At four tenths we are in tenth place, I couldn’t do better even in the time attack.”
But the speed we have when I drive alone is incredible, but behind someone it’s totally different. We can’t stay close at the overtaking points and this is the main problem for us. We have to stay further away and therefore we are unable to complete the overtaking, we are 5 meters behind, today in the Sprint I almost fell several times because I push to the limit but it doesn’t work”, adds Quartararo.
The appearance of the tires will also be crucial, the high temperatures in Buriram force us to make cautious choices and today the majority of the drivers chose a pair of medium tires to tackle the Sprint: “Yesterday I was more confident about tire wear, of Usually the Sprint is a little worse for us, so for tomorrow I expect to go a little better. Average tomorrow can be an option for us. Tomorrow morning we will try the hard to understand how the performance is, but I think that if there is a subtle difference at the beginning I will use the medium.”
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