The second time trial at the end of the final day of the Mandalika tests is an indication of real progress in the time attack of Fabio Quartararo, who however wore a mask during the debriefing of his last pre-season test. Although he considers his performance today and the work done by the team satisfactory, the Frenchman does not hide his disappointment regarding the development carried out by the Yamaha technical management during the winter.
The critical point is the power of the engine, the main requirement of the reigning world champion to hope to compete with a Ducati that was already a leader in this area and that had made further progress since the end of last season. On Saturday, Quartararo had already stressed with great regret that the top speed had remained unchanged compared to last year. Such is his frustration that he also linked this lack of progress to his desire to evaluate his options away from Yamaha for his future as the contract expires at the end of 2022.
“Honestly, the disappointing thing is that with so much time to develop the engine, we have nothing,” said the Frenchman at the end of the final day of testing. “I don’t understand why on any track we are always on average 10km / h slower. Whether the straight is 100m or 1km, it’s at least 10km / h, sometimes more. That’s why I’m not happy. They know. very well even if I repeat it often “.
Yamaha expects a very tough season
Massimo Meregalli, who revealed that he shared his rider’s disappointment on this point at the end of the winter break, is now using strong words to describe the crisis that Yamaha is experiencing: “We expect a very tough season, it’s a situation that is very close to all pilots. It will be very interesting for those who watch the races from their sofa, but it will be a little less interesting and stressful for those who will be in the pits ”.
Quartararo, meanwhile, seems resigned to the fact that the engine designed by Iwata for next season will not be able to change anyway: “I can’t do anything more. As for me, I go 100% every time I’m on the track. We have what we have. We were hoping for a much better top speed on this 2022 bike, but it’s actually exactly the same. I’ve said this many times and won’t say it again, because we know what we have on the engine and power. But as I said, I will always be 100% “.
Feeling on edge, the Frenchman said he can only wait for his team to help him: “Honestly, I don’t know where we can do better. When you start to feel the front moving all over, the rear sliding to the limit, when you are rocked all over, it’s hard to find anything else. For me the most important thing is that the team, and the Yamaha factory in particular, are working hard to find something, to find more speed so that I can feel less at the limit. To race at this pace, every time I’m on the track I have to push a lot. Everyone is at the limit but for us it is quite difficult. When I enter the track, it is to go and fight. I hope that when they want to work and find something, it is the same thing. I think it’s super important for the riders to be really 100% ”.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: MotoGP
The driver from Nice said that between now and the first Grand Prix of the season, scheduled in three weeks, he does not expect anything special in terms of material: “I don’t think we will have anything for Qatar, unfortunately. What I can work on is to study each track as much as possible. Make no mistakes, make good qualifications and even good starts. We cannot afford to make mistakes. In Portimão last year, we qualified in eighth place and fell behind. We cannot repeat these mistakes, I think sixth place is the best, otherwise we will be in trouble ”.
But how much room for maneuver remains for the reigning world champion’s team? “Of course we will try to maximize what we have as much as possible. The base of the bike is good,” said Massimo Meregalli. “We have not made any major revolution. As we are used to, we have kept our base and just introduced updates. Also we are starting to get to know the bike, we don’t need to spend time adapting it to each circuit. This could be an advantage for everyone. But if we have this advantage, we will try to manage it as much as possible “.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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