He started from fourth position and finished fourth at the finish line: the French Grand Prix was not particularly glorious for home idol Fabio Quartararo, who was forced to chase after a desperate comeback after a mistake at the start. Ready, go: at the traffic lights he didn’t go very well, losing ground compared to the opponents who were in the lead to find themselves in traffic and in extreme difficulty when overtaking.
The one presented to the press at the end of the Le Mans race is not a satisfied Quartararo. He comes out as leader of the standings with four points clear of Aleix Espargaro, but analyzes his Sunday and underlines the difficulties that prevented him from fighting as he would have liked: “Aleix was fast the whole race, but we couldn’t overtake. For me the problem wasn’t just the last lap, but everyone, I wasn’t able to overtake. All the overtaking I did was because three riders in front of me crashed. I was there, but I couldn’t pass, there were overtaking points at Turn 3 and 9, but on the straight we were losing a lot. As soon as you make a mistake at the start, your race is over ”.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
A small mistake at the start compromised the entire race, given the difficulty of overtaking, finding himself in traffic was not ideal: “My start was not bad, but not good either. When in this situation you have a faster pace but are unable to overtake, the problem is not just the difficulty of passing. If you lose, five, six meters on the straight, the other riders fight for the podium and for the victory, but I can’t recover everything. This track is very stop & go, I couldn’t overtake and I think you can also see it from the pictures ”.
With today’s fourth place, he maintains the lead in the world championship, but the position obtained at Le Mans does not feel real because he considers that it came only as a consequence of the crashes of the riders in front of him: “I’m not at all happy with my race. I can’t be happy with the race I did, three riders crashed in front of me, my real position wasn’t fourth, it’s further back. But not because of the pace, because we had the best pace on the grid, but as soon as I’m behind someone I struggle to overtake. I’m not even angry, because I’m a little used to it. Surely I always give 100% and even today I gave everything. At a certain point I lost the front, Aleix took a good gap, but in a few corners I was very close to him again. In terms of speed we were super fast, but there was no opportunity to overtake ”.
The triumph was Enea Bastianini, the only one this year to win more than one race. So is he the main opponent for the title? According to Quartararo, the others should not be excluded, Bagnaia first and foremost. In light of the difficulties on the Yamaha, the Frenchman believes that he does not even feel like the favorite for the title, despite being the leader of the world championship: “Pecco is one of the fastest here, Enea is the only one who has won more than one race. ‘year. He is currently the man to look to. He has had difficulties on some tracks, but he is the most constant, when he has the pace he is very fast and manages to get the best position. I’m definitely not the favorite, what I can do is make no mistakes. If I’m not mistaken, I can be in front, because our pace, apart from some tracks like Austin or Lusail, was the fastest. Again in terms of pace I was the fastest, but as soon as you make a slight mistake it’s over. I don’t know what I can do about overtaking, the most frustrating thing is you can’t even try. This is why I don’t feel the favorite “.
![Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing](https://cdn-3.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0ZRxpA50/s8/fabio-quartararo-yamaha-factor-1.jpg)
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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