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The goal is undoubtedly to leave the difficulties of last season behind them. Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha aim to turn the page, despite the challenge being full of difficulties. The competition has in fact raised the bar and it does not seem easy or obvious that they will be able to fill the gap in the short term.
The Frenchman's chase begins in Qatar on an M1 which will have to speed up its development path.
“We have to get a little bit back like in ‘19 or ’21, when the way we were riding was much more smooth. I think we need much more time to understand completely what we need. Hopefully as soon as possible, but it's difficult to predict when the bike is going to be ready. Last year I was not able to be better than third. So hopefully we can fight this year for the victory in the occasion where we feel we can. I think that we have to do it step by step and not thinking already about the win but try to be into the top five. And then stepping up.”
This year you will have many more testing days due to concessions. How much will it help you?
“I think it's really important, especially to have things that we can change on the bike. To be able to test more during the season will be great, also because we have only have two bikes. There are many ideas from the engineers, but during the race weekend there isn't much time to work on the level of the electronics. Having more days available will allow me to develop better."
What areas do you need to work on?
“There are many areas where we have to improve. Also last year, the pace was always much better than on one lap and we know how important it is to be in Q2 from Friday afternoon. There are some areas like electronics, the way we are using the rear tyre going into the corner is something that we are a little bit worse every year."
Speaking of the championship, what is the biggest concern you have?
“The working method. There are new people, the mentality has changed and the adaptation is not complete. This means we will need time. It's not easy, already last year was quite difficult to accept the position that I was in. I think the first seven, eight races I was not feeling good personally. Also at home I was not good. When you fight for a championship for three years in a row and you are in this position, it's never easy. But right now you have to know where you are. We are not in a position to think about the championship. But I'm working a lot. Yamaha is working a lot also. The project is much more clear than last year. We are making steps. It will take time but I think we will be much faster.”
Over the winter we saw a Yamaha that had improved in terms of top speed. How big is this help?
“The bigger change we had during the winter was the top speed. And we are pretty happy with that. Maybe over one lap it will not make the difference, but to fight in a race, I think it could be much easier to prepare an overtake or be closer to the guy in front. And I think we can ride more in a similar way to the other manufacturers.”
Among the many topics of the press conference, there was also the issue of tyres with pressure that will be regulated at 1.8 bar.
“In the past it was 1.9. I think this choice is OK, because if it is too high or low we lose performance. I think this number is acceptable, considering tracks like Thailand where it's hot and we suffer a lot at the front."
Finally the rider market…
“There is no deadline, we’ve not had not proper talks with Yamaha. So I think I will need a bit of time. The project, the mentality of the team, how it's going with these new engineers. At the moment I can say they are making steps.”
