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Fabio Quartararo's 2024 season goes down on record with an 11th place finish in the Solidarity GP at Barcelona. A not too exciting but still positive result for the Yamaha rider, who appeared quite satisfied with his performance and the gap he accumulated from the leaders.
"Today we opted for the hard tire, which we had never tried during the weekend. I think it was the right choice, but we didn't have grip," he recounted at the end of the race. "I had Bezzecchi in front of me on the soft and he had some sliding throughout the race, but at the end he still had more grip than me. Clearly, we know what we lack and what we need to improve, but to be honest I think I managed to have one of my best races. We were only ten seconds from the top, and although the position is not the best, I think we can be satisfied with the race we had."
It was difficult to figure out exactly what was the right rear tire with which to tackle the Grand Prix. So much so that all three compounds were seen on the grid.
"I knew Pecco would choose the soft. The pace he had was unbelievable, but I didn't expect Martin to go for the medium, because in my opinion it had the same drop as the soft and less potential - he commented - As for the hard, I didn't know what to expect, however, yesterday Rins chose the medium, I chose the soft, and we both had an incredible drop. So, in the end, I decided to opt for the hard, because I had nothing to lose."
Leaving the race aside for a moment, the Frenchman offered his opinion on Jorge Martin winning the title.
"Did the right person win? I think so. I think that both Pecco and Martin have had two incredible years in the last two years and that Jorge deserved to win this year, because I think he has reached a great maturity as a rider and as a person and he deserved this title so much," he said. "In addition, when he was not taken by the Factory team, he had the courage to switch to another manufacturer and he really deserved the World Championship."
Emotions, those felt today by the Madrilenian, experienced by El Diablo in 2021.
"Do I still remember what it feels like to become World Champion? That was too long ago," he replied, smiling, "However, I'm sure anyone's dream here is to become World Champion, but in the end only one can win and I can imagine the feeling Jorge is feeling today. I think he will have to take every opportunity to celebrate until next year, because you know when you become World Champion, but you don't know when you will be for the second time."
With this complex season concluded, Quartararo can only begin to look forward to next year with some confidence. Strong in the change of mentality made by the Iwata-based company and the support that will come from the Pramac team riders.
"It has been hard. Especially for us, because in addition to doing all the races, you can't imagine how many days of testing and events we had throughout the year because of concessions. It's been a really hard year for us, but I feel like this is going to be a really important preseason for Yamaha," he noted, "Now I have to compare with my teammate, because there is only one other Yamaha in the standings. So, next year it will be great to have other Yamahas besides mine with factory riders, to get more information and more data, because this season has been quite difficult for us. We mainly need two things in order to be in the fight, I won't say for the win because we miss it too much, but at least for the Top 5. We have shortcomings in some areas, but I think a little bit at a time we are getting there."
Fabio then went into more detail about the improvements made by the M1 since the beginning of the year.
"Obviously I was expecting to be a little bit faster, but in the first part of the season, more than improving the bike, we changed our way of working, and for me it was really important to change our mentality," he said, "I think the concessions also helped, because when an engine was working, we had it right away the next race. Without waiting to test first to be sure. The first half of the year was like that, while in the second half we were able to make a big step forward in some areas, especially in electronics. Tuesday will be really important for us and for me to see if the engine is really more powerful or not."
Will Yamaha continue to adopt this new mentality in the future?
"Yes, at least that will be the case as long as I'm there, because otherwise I can't continue," concluded the 25-year-old. "We changed our mentality this year, so we will continue like this in the coming years, because we feel we have taken a small step forward. We knew and expected that this would be a really tough track for us. However, in the end, in Malaysia I finished 6th at more than 15 seconds, while here I finished 11th, but at 10 seconds. So, we have to see the positive aspects like the gap with the first ones, but we have to improve especially the grip and the power."
