Fabio Quartararo leaves the Assen Circuit with a bad taste in his mouth after finishing with a zero this Sunday. The reigning world champion, ready to sign a significant result during the last race before the summer break, crashed while contesting victory against Pecco Bagnaia at the Dutch Grand Prix. The regular Yamaha rider was trying to get to the top of the honor roll when he was forced off the track after an accident at turn five.
“I made a rookie mistake,” Fabio confessed to Canal +. “I wanted to push too much from the beginning. It is with these mistakes that you learn for the future, but it was a really stupid mistake,” he lamented.
“I wanted to rush, I attacked as if it were the last corner of the last lap and in the end I made a rookie mistake. It didn’t go well and in the end I crashed twice in the same corner. A race to forget” , analyzed the Frenchman after finishing the race.
His closest rival on the qualifying sheet, Aleix Espargaró, was involved in this movement. The Aprilia rider was part of the consequences of Quartararo’s crash, leaving the track and moving away in the time table.
However, the rider from Granollers managed to rejoin the track, being the protagonist due to his great comeback and last overtaking on Sunday, a maneuver in which he passed two riders at the chicane.
Guilt-ridden, the French rider did not hesitate to go to the Aprilia garage after finishing the test as a sign of apology.
“No, [things] haven’t gone well, so [I went to] apologize to Aleix [Espargaró], that I’ve ruined his career, but hey, we haven’t done it on purpose, of course. despite this result but nothing, apologies to Aprilia and Aleix”, insisted the reigning world champion.
“We would have been leaders here in any case,” Fabio calculated. “But it’s a shame, because we could have gotten a lot of points. It’s time to learn from what we’ve done wrong and forget this race as quickly as possible.”
Aleix Espargaró , meanwhile, accepted the French rider’s words and concluded the dispute with a hug between both riders. When asked about possible physical consequences after the second fall, Fabio wanted to reassure the media.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine, a little headache but nothing,” the Frenchman smiled. “We could have set a very good pace and fought for victory. These are mistakes that we learn from for the future,” reasoned the defending world champion.
“I went to apologize [to Aleix Espagaró], because he was the winner today because of the pace he had. Just to apologize for my mistake. He had a very good race.”
On the reasons why he returned to the track, the Frenchman commented: “I wanted to restart and try to score some points, but I saw that the bike was a problem. I stopped, the team told me to return to the track in case of rain, but when I did I could see something was wrong. I tried but I don’t know, we have to analyze the crash, but I lost the rear hard so we’ll see what they say. I made a rookie mistake,” Quartararo confessed.
