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On the eve of the weekend in Catalonia, Fabio Quartararo already knew that his weekend at Montmeló wouldn’t be a happy one, like in the past. But he certainly didn’t think he’d experience an ordeal like he did on Saturday. Starting from a 17th place on the grid, the Yamaha rider failed to get beyond an 18th place in the Sprint Race, with 17”1’ from the winner.
“It was more difficult than I expected,” El Diablo admitted. “Especially today. I expected that the grip would improve, but I quickly realized this morning that this wasn’t the case. With the riding style we have, we suffer a lot in conditions of poor grip, and we have to try to be more fluid. Today, I tried to delay braking at the start a bit, but I made a mistake on the first lap, which practically didn’t affect the result in any way.”
Fabio tried to ride above the M1’s limits, but none of his efforts gave him the results he was expecting
“I tried to push a little, trying to brake a bit later and go faster, but the bike didn’t allow me to do this and, in doing so, I made mistakes, and I can’t ride smoothly,” he explained. “Today was one of those days when I didn’t feel I was one with the bike. It’s a shame, because we tried hundreds of things over the weekend to try to find a solution, but it’s been three years now that we practically have the same bike, and we know what the base is. The truth is, we’ve tried a lot of things, to look for something that’s not there. That’s it.”
It’s difficult to think of improving in such a complicated situation, and that’s also why Fabio didn’t approach the short race with the intention of collecting data in view of tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
“We tried to perform and tried to find solutions to try to have fun and ride in a more or less normal manner. But, when there's little grip, I struggle more than Franco, like in Argentina,” he said. “I think it’ll be a good thing to use our base tomorrow morning and try to go on like this, trying to ride more or less gently.”
Not even the method used by Marc Marquez – who admitted not to look at the standings so as not to feel frustrated – seemed to work for Quartararo, who was increasingly demoralized by the Yamaha.
“I tried to do it too. It’s not a question of looking at the standings, but of no longer seeing the riders in front of you in the two- lap run,” the French rider admitted. “I know my potential on this track and, in general, but I don’t have enough power to be able to battle with them, and that’s what’s frustrating, more than the final position, because I’m not having fun on the bike, and that’s what I’d like to fix, above all.”
