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Fabio Quartararo made his mark today in Misano, gaining direct access to Q2 with a sumptuous performance. The Frenchman has been consistently at the top since the morning, but he had said yesterday that he was particularly worried about the time attack given how he had fared during the tests Yamaha held here in August. Fortunately, the facts proved Fabio wrong, and although he did not improve as much as his rivals did on new rubber, he managed to grab a top ten that is worth its weight in gold.
"I'm happy especially for the race pace, while the one lap is still a problem for us - were Fabio's words - But for me to get into Q2 in this way is great, also because we know well how much we can suffer in the time attack. Here in testing the one lap was terrible, now I would say it's better. It's not normal that when I attack with the new tire I only improve by three tenths, if you look at the others they improve by almost a second. Something we still lack, but at least I think it was great to get into Q2 like that. It's been a long time since I had as much fun on the bike as I did today."
Do you think you can do better tomorrow?
"Today I didn't have any further margin, maybe tomorrow by working better on the rear grip we can make small steps forward, but today I was really on the limit everywhere. On the pace, on the time attack, everywhere. We need grip, that's the goal between now and the end of the season. Today we found a little bit more grip and did a great job, by getting into Q2 our weekend can be completely different. Just find two tenths and everything changes."
How come you say you had so much fun today?
"I enjoyed being on the bike today because when you are ahead in the standings you feel better. I don't think my position is in the back of the pack, today I really had the pace to be at the top all the time, I was often in the top four and I felt I had to be there all the time. By bad luck on the time attack we still have some work to do, but today I really felt like I could do some good laps on the race pace."
Rins promoted the agility of the new chassis, what do you think?
"For me the new chassis doesn't help for handling, I would say it helps more when you are in the corner at the limit, you feel more comfortable. I would say that at the very least there are no negative points but only positive points. Yamaha is working better on the chassis, it's a very good step. The Japanese usually like to take small steps, but even though in this case the difference is minimal, I can say that this step forward is something I really like. I like everything because we are doing things faster."
Do you feel a real change of pace?
"Since Max joined the group, I feel that the whole working mentality of the group has changed. We haven't had real improvements until now, whereas now I really feel a step forward. The engine, the chassis. I expect to finish the season differently than how it started, I don't think I can really fight for much better positions than I did at the beginning of the season, but I think the gap to the top five is going to decrease between now and the end of the year."
What does Yamaha lack more than anything else?
"I've had the chance to follow some of my opponents on the track both this morning and this afternoon, and I'm more and more convinced that the issue is always the lack of grip at the rear. I can see compared to the others what we lack, and that's it. Especially when we are leaning between 40 and 60 degrees, anywhere on the track, we are slower than the others. I think this is the problem and we just need to work. The team knows where we need to go."
ALex Rins also expressed satisfaction with Yamaha's progress, despite not getting into Q2 like his teammate.
"I tried the new chassis and I liked it. I can't make exact comparisons because in testing there was less grip, however, I can say that I lapped a second stronger with this chassis than in that test. I would say it is better, maybe in the tests I was not in race mode, I don't know. We still suffer in some areas, we are on the same set-up as in the tests but we tried to make a mix with some things from Aragon, it just didn't work as I would have expected. I would say there is a lot of room for improvement, I don't see it as a bad day."
How does this new chassis perform?
"In my opinion this chassis is more agile, the bike before always felt heavy to us. Now, however, I feel the bike is faster in direction changes, I don't feel any problems compared to the other one but only positive points. We still lack grip coming out of corners, that yes."
Tomorrow do you think you can make progress?
"I'll try tomorrow with the test setup and that's it, the path followed today didn't work. I suffer in some corners, I saw Fabio's data and in some corners he comes in much faster than me. Maybe I need a little bit more time, but honestly I feel I'm on the right track."
Photocredit@ Pier Luca Brunetti
