The Sachsenring weekend wasn’t a great one for Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha. After a qualifying round where he ended up at the back the grid, he failed to reach the Top 10 in the Sprint Race or in the long race. In the latter, the soft on the rear was useless and turned out to be a double-edged sword. Yamaha’s problems go hand in hand with those of the other teams, in a Championship that’s almost now exclusively being led by Ducati, all eight in the top 10 of the race on the German circuit.
“To be honest, when I saw where we started, I thought I’d try to use the soft tire,” the French rider explained. “Yet, it turned out to be the wrong choice. I didn’t find the grip I was looking for but, on the other hand, the tire dropped a lot in performance. A wrong decision but one that, in the end, wouldn’t have made a big difference. Finishing in tenth or twentieth place for me would have been the same thing.”
So, you would have done better with the medium?
“I wouldn’t have gone beyond a tenth place, that's for sure,” the French rider continued.
Marc’s weekend was tough. In the end, he opted not to race despite winning undisputedly for years on this track in the past.
“I understand how he feels. It’s since the injury in 2020 that he sometimes manages to snatch some podiums. But, for me, he remains the best. As a rider, he gives it his all in every session. Here, he fell, and got up every time, trying to do even better. Mentally, he’s definitely the fastest, but then there comes that moment when you get hurt, a fracture to the thumb in his case. It’s strange of me to say, but I want to congratulate him on what he’s doing.”
It's clear that five falls is really the limit for any rider. Are you in a similar position, even you happen to want to step back sometimes?
”Compared to Honda, they have a slight margin in corners, while Yamaha has a slight margin in braking. This can help preventaccidents, but it doesn’t take away that we’re always at the limit. We’re in trouble too, so I can understand that perfectly.”