"It's not the best start," Fabio Quartararo said at the end of the first day of official tests at Sepang, where the French rider took center stage after the first few laps, when he took a fall at Turn 5, fracturing the middle finger of his left hand along with several abrasions.
The Yamaha rider then opted to go to Barcelona for check-ups, with the aim of recovering in time for Buriram, therefore, ending his tests prematurely and maybe being grateful for the concessions, which allowed him to complete the required tests, "even if with just a couple of days more..." the French rider said, letting out a sigh. However, although the adaptation to the V4 is proceeding quickly and under control, according to him, Quartararo's overall assessment of his and Yamaha's position in the MotoGP isn't the most rosy, which is why his confidence is struggling to take off. There's still a lot of development work to be done, and the opponents seem fearsome from the first day of testing.
"It's been a difficult start to the season," Quartararo began, "but, luckily, we still managed to get two days of testing in during the Shakedown. These things happen. My finger is broken, so now I'm going to Barcelona to get it checked out."
According to the French rider, the accident won't jeopardize the tests.
"We already tested everything we needed to test," Fabio continued, "even if two more test days would've been valuable for working on the electronics and maps, but I think we did more than enough. So I prefer to recover and be ready for Buriram. It was a decision made in agreement with Yamaha. There are four of us riders, and we divided the work."
Fabio then went into detail about the fall.
"I lost the front immediately and going fast. The crash was huge, but even the ride on the gravel had an effect. It knocked me out a bit but, luckily, I came out of it with only a few minor injuries. As far as I know, it wasn't the engine."
As for adapting to the new Yamaha V4, #20 said he's satisfied.
"Completely. I immediately felt where I needed to change, what aspects I needed to adapt to. Our V4 isn't quite like the others. There's still a lot of work to do in corners, traction, grip, power. There are still many aspects to adjust."
However, the interruption in his tests didn't change the position of Quartararo and Yamaha in the balance of power.
"I didn't get a chance to learn anything about my rivals today. I didn't do enough laps. But let's see how fast they are on the first day of testing. If you look at the lap times, they're already incredibly fast. We know where we are, we know we're far behind. We have to accept that, and the only thing we can do is continue to work hard to close the gap."
His assessment at the end of his tests before the start of the season remains uncertain.
"Obviously, I can't say I'm confident. We'll see how much we suffer. We can see that the lap times aren't very good, and the only thing I can do is give it my all and try to do my best, whatever position I'm in."