MotoGP | Quartararo: “Things are getting worse for Yamaha”

Fabio Quartararo believes things are getting “worse and worse” for Yamaha, despite its efforts to emerge from the current MotoGP crisis.

The 2021 world champion made the claim after battling for 18th in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, finishing nearly 44 seconds behind winner Pecco Bagnaia’s factory Ducati. His final position was compromised by a long lap penalty, but he was already out of the points in 16th when he was penalised for repeatedly exceeding track limits.

His teammate Alex Rins, returning to MotoGP after an injury-related absence, fared only slightly better in Spielberg, trailing Bagnaia by 37 seconds in 16th place. That meant Yamaha had not scored points in a Grand Prix for the first time since the 2022 Dutch GP.

Quartararo was visibly frustrated after recording his worst result of the year and left the track quite early after the race to fly to Misano for a private test, skipping most of his media engagements.

In a brief interview with French broadcaster Canal+, he said: “Clearly, it’s one of the worst weekends of the season. We’re trying to improve, but unfortunately things are getting worse and worse. We can’t find a way to improve.”

“I tried to push hard in the first laps, like the others do, but unfortunately we were overtaken. Then, I had problems with the (tyre) pressure, and that’s how the result is disastrous.”

Quartararo, Rins and the rest of the Yamaha team will be in Misano from Monday to Wednesday as part of a private test also attended by Honda and KTM.

Both Quartararo and Rins will be able to test the M1 first-hand, as part of the concessions received from MotoGP after Yamaha failed to secure a single victory last season.

The Iwata manufacturer hopes the test will provide some answers to its lack of pace in Spielberg, where it was overtaken not only by its European rivals but also by Honda.

“It was a day to forget,” said Yamaha team principal Massimo Meregalli. “It was a mirror image of the Sprint. We didn’t expect such a difficult weekend.”

“Alex did a good job in the race, especially considering his condition. Fabio got a good start, but was unable to defend his position, and the long lap penalty ended his chances of fighting for points.”

“Other than that, there’s not much to say. We need to really understand what’s causing this poor performance.”

“We have the Aragon GP in two weeks, but before that we have a private test in Misano next week. We will evaluate different components and, if the results are good, we aim to take the parts directly to Aragon.”