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The M1 is a work in progress, a bike that still needs a lot of attention before it is competitive. Quartararo knows this very well and in fact the Frenchman seems to be more focused on the future than the present. Now they need to lay the groundwork for a resurgence even before worrying about the results. Even at Jerez, a circuit once friendly to Yamaha, where in 2020 Fabio took his first MotoGP victory.
"Thinking back to last season, I wouldn't know what to say ," he joked, recalling the disappointing results in 2023 , "but if we forget that GP, it's a good track for us. The important thing is that in the first three races of the year we collected a lot of data to analyze to improve. Like in Austin, we will try many things to be able to solve those problems that make us slow."
Will Monday's testing be more important than the Grand Prix?
"Everything is important. On Monday we will have so many things to try, I don't think we will have enough time to do everything. However, we must not waste time, even on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will be able to do a lot of laps, and that means trying a lot of things."
Are you planning to use the race weekends as a kind of test?
"Some things you can't try during GPs, and I don't like to say that I will approach it as a test because it sounds a bit strange. I have nothing to lose if something goes wrong, though. We especially have to focus on the Friday afternoon session because it is important to go straight into Q2, in the others you can do some experiments. We have some important setup changes to try, which we had never done in the past. We never revolutionized our bike, we were just making small changes, whereas since Austin we started to play a lot with the setup. I think it's good because it allows us to see what our weaknesses are."
Is there still a lot of work to be done?
"This is the first year we have changed so many parts on our bike: the engine, the aerodynamics, the set-ups. We have to analyze the data well now to understand how we need to improve the M1, because in the last three years we haven't changed it much."
How much does it help to have Crutchlow as a test rider in this process?
"We have different riding styles, so it's difficult. He did two days of testing at Mugello and two more in Barcelona after the Austin GP, and I talk to him often. This will still be a busy month for us, with testing here on Monday and more after Le Mans."
Yamaha is looking for a satellite team for next year.
"This is really important, they are working so hard to get it. To understand how crucial it is, you only have to check how many laps we did in the pre-season and how many Ducati did, it's completely different: you can test many things but alos have the comments of more riders. In my opinion, it is really important I think to have... I wouldn't even say a satellite team. It must be an extension of the factory team, they must have factory bikes, factory support. In the end, the rider you have close to youy with the same bike is your rival, but if you have three more, it gives you even more motivation and you can even learn more from the others."
