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Judging by the first qualifying session of the season, it’s going to be a hard year for Fabio Quartararo. The world champion, in fact, will only be starting from the fourth row, in an 11th position, six tenths from poleman Jorge Martin.
Seeing his gap at top speed during his first qualifying session, maybe the French rider feared the worse, but hoped for better. In the end, Losail’s long straight, but also several unresolved problems on the Yamaha, didn’t help, so ‘El Diablo’ will really have to get on the warpath in Qatar against his opponents, who have really made lots of progress.
"Honestly, I feel great on the bike, comfortable. I reach the limit. I’m giving it my all every time I get on the track, but I'm not an engineer. Maximum speed is one thing … so, I give one hundred percent all the time. Today, tomorrow, and until the end of the season, it’ll be like this. Yes, it was hard," Quartararo said.
With a kilometer of straight, they’ll need a special strategy to be able to battle it out with the fastest.
“Like I said before, the only strategy I have is to push one hundered percent, whatever the condition is. It's the only chance I have to get ahead. I'll have to push hard, that's all I have in mind.”
He’ll definitely have to think of something, since he’s starting from the fourth row …
"To be honest, we need a perfect first lap on this circuit. Last year, I was in ninth position for most of the race, and I was still able to overtake. But things are changing. My opponents' bikes have improved, so we’ll see, but we will definitely try something on the bike during the warm up tomorrow, because my pace isn’t bad right now. Then we’ll see, but I’ll give it my all, even if we also have to deal with the tires, so it won’t be an easy job."
Had you already realized it during the tests that your opponents had progressed? What are your thoughts?
“Like I said, I'm just the rider on the bike. And I attack at one hundred percent. Coming to Qatar, I expected much better but, as always, I’m fast in terms of pace. Looking at the qualifications, I'm not really angry, because I know I did my best, and I couldn't do much better. So, to be honest, I don't really know what to say ... ."
What’s the biggest problem? Maximum speed. The Yamaha also seemed unstable coming out of corners.
"My feeling is that, overall, we don't have grip on the rear, and we’re suffering too much. We just don't have a chance to open the throttle any more. I’d say that it’s because of the lack of rear grip, that the bike moves so much. It’s because I push to the limit. When you push yourself to the limit, there comes a time when the bike is no longer really stable. In the end, if the bike moves, it just means I'm at the limit. But the main difference for me is that I don't have grip on the rear, and we know it's a weakness for us. That’s the major problem.”
