Sixth in Saturday afternoon's Sprint Race Fabio Quartararo had set the stage for a positive conclusion to the Texas weekend, and so in the end it was although not as expected and not without a moment of panic. On the sighting lap the Frenchman was the victim of a crash that could have compromised his race and not a little, but fortunately for him the damage was limited.
"I don't know why it happened. I was practically standing and not pushing, yet I lost the front. It was a strange crash, the first in 2025 and for a long time," he told Canal+ expressing surprise, "The bike was also damaged, so I couldn't have used it to continue. The fact is that the second one had a different frame and swingarm, plus I hadn't used it since the Thailand tests. Anyway, overall it was a good weekend."
Despite a satisfactory result, there was no shortage of concerns. "I experienced an electronic fault, so a signal appeared on the dashboard that I didn't have enough fuel to get to the finish line, as a result from Lap 4 I set an ad hoc fuel-saving mapping and it was a mistake. These things can happen, the good thing is that we were quite fast," was his analysis.
In light of the difficulties encountered in switching from one M1 to the other, El Diablo called Yamaha to a change of strategy. "We have to stop working on the detail to adapt to each circuit as our shortcomings are big. For Qatar we have to make sure we have two bikes with a chassis in line with my needs," he declared.
For the Nice rider, continuing to use race weekends as tests is wrong. "On the contrary, we should set a base and keep it, so that we can get used to it and only if there is a change that can really bring benefits apply it. It isn't possible to change everything all the time," he complained, "Currently we are still lacking in grip and power, and there has been no improvement in electronics."
Despite the aspects that are still not working, on Sunday in Austin, the 2021 MotoGP world champion was keen to point out, "The race was a bit bumpy for us, but you can see that we have more potential."