The rain on Thursday night meant that the Jerez circuit kept some wet areas in Friday practice, despite the fact that the conditions were originally dry. This surprised several drivers, including Fabio Quartararo.
The current world champion was competing in the FP1 of the Spanish Grand Prix when he crashed with his M1 in the last corner. With pain in his groin, the French driver returned to the pits to leave at the end of the session and proclaim himself, some time later, as the best driver in FP2.
Asked how he was feeling after Friday’s race, Quartararo said: “Sore, I had a tough five minutes after the crash,” he said after finishing FP2. “But let’s just say the pain is getting less and less, even though I couldn’t breathe at first.”
Fabio Quartararo assured that he himself was the cause of his injury.
“It wasn’t even the bike. We put something new in the fuel tank and when I jumped on it [I hurt my groin].
“I felt a bit stupid because I fell and didn’t do anything,” he admitted. “But when I grabbed the bike and jumped on it [that’s what hurt]. So maybe it was better to lie [and say] it was the tyre, but I have to say I was stupid.
The first free session was critical for the Yamaha rider, making several mistakes.
“I had a moment where I braked too late, and with the medium front [tyre] I felt super bad, because I felt like I had basically no support. I felt like the tire was moving a lot and I didn’t want to take a chance and try to turn and go fall,” he explained.
“So I preferred to go straight and at one point I was wrong to change to fourth gear when I had to go to second.
Marc Marquez also crashed in a wet area of Turn 8 on his way back to the pitlane, and Quartararo admitted he hopes something will be done in that area for Saturday as it is “pretty dangerous”.
“Normally here in Jerez on Friday it’s super hard, so I was quite surprised because normally every Friday we don’t go so well and today we’ve made a good step,” he said.
“Even in FP2 there were some wet patches at Turn 8, and it’s not a good place to have them.
“So I hope that tomorrow, even if it’s dry, someone will go with something to dry it out, because if I’m being honest, it’s a place where it’s quite dangerous to have this situation.”
“The last corner is slow, but in turn 8 you can have a big accident from the front or from the rear,” he warned.
