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The first match point of the season sees those directly involved forced to reconstruct a race weekend that for them is not looking so lucky for the moment. Shortly after Bagnaia's second crash of the day, Quartararo lost the front in turn 8, remaining upright but aborting what would probably have been his fastest lap and which would have allowed him to start a little ahead of 12th position. .
At Sepang one of Fabio's few weapons would have been to start in front of Pecco, but despite his opponent's crash, the Frenchman was unable to achieve this goal, and tomorrow he will be forced to start in the middle of the wild bunch. The last thing he needs.
If to this inconvenience, we add a fracture in the middle finger of his left hand, for El Diablo the exploit becomes titanic, just when his consistency is appearing to fail and he and his bike seem to have given everything, like two lovers with a relationship coming to an end, so Quartararo is called to give everything for everything. Keep this world championship open or let it close. Tomorrow the destiny of the Yamaha rider will be in his hands alone and the predictions are not in his favour.
How did you break your finger, you crashed on the right.
"I have a small fracture in the phalanx of the middle finger of my left hand. I have no idea how it happened because I fell on my right hand. When I fell, I think I put my hand down and twisted my finger. It gives me a little bit of bother, but that's okay ",
How hard will it be tomorrow?
"Same as always".
Even more coming from behind?
“For the pace I was not feeling so bad after the crash. I had to start with a different bike because we had one bike for the wet and one for the dry, to which we only changed the springs and went in. With the different bike the pace was not bad but starting from this distance is difficult ”.
In qualifying, how much did the problem with the finger affect you?
“Honestly, in the qualifying was not a problem. Maybe I was not as focused, I don’t know. The first run was something I still don’t understand, and the second run we didn’t calculate to make two laps. So… second run was much better, not on the feeling but just on the lap time, until the moment in the same corner where I crashed.”
When you crashed you could see that the bike was shaking, pumping a bit?
"Yes, a lot of pumping in that corner, but it happens more in qualifying, but if you accelerate normally it should be better, but as soon as I touched the gas I lost the front."
What is your strategy for tomorrow?
"I think starting from 12th there is no strategy. I'll have to go as fast as possible and see how it goes. I don't think there is a specific tactic. First we will have to choose which tyre to use because there was no time to try both the medium and the soft, so tomorrow we will have to do a few laps with the soft and see how it goes. "
Are there any points where you think you can overtake?
“It will be the mystery of tomorrow”.
Pecco crashed for the second time today. Do you think he's feeling the pressure as much as you do?
“Honestly, I don't feel much pressure, but it’s really strange the way we are having these last races. I don’t know if we work in the correct way or not, but we are missing many things. And maybe we should do something different. Really strange last races.”
What are you struggling to do with your hand?
“Brake and activate the holeshot device, because you have to use it in many places, but that's the only thing that bothers me. Since we don't use the clutch to downshift, it will not be a problem tomorrow. I think in the race I will have many things to think about apart from the finger. I think it shouldn’t be a problem, and for sure I’ll take something for the race.”
This is the first time you have been seen making a strategy with Morbidelli.
“Franco today was fast. And especially in qualifying. We will analyse well, until Turn 8 where we had the mistake, what he did different to us.”
Has working as a team improved the situation in the last two races?
"I think that if Franco continues the progress that he is making it will be very useful for next year, we hope to get his valuable feedback. Last year we had it from Maverick, it helped us a lot to improve and raise the bar. "
