Quartararo: "It's disappointing, we have nothing"

The final day of the MotoGP pre-season test in Mandalika , in which Fabio Quartararo completed 79 laps (the third rider who gave the most) with the second fastest time of the day, did not serve to change the current perception of the new M1 2022 world champion of the queen class, who remains in his line of putting pressure on Iwata due to the lack of speed of the new prototype.

“Honestly, what is disappointing is that with so much time to develop the engine, we have nothing,” said the disgruntled Frenchman from the island of Lombok, Indonesia.

“What I don’t understand is that on any track, on average, we are always 10 km/h slower. Whether the straight is a hundred meters or a kilometre, it’s always at least 10 km/h slower, or sometimes more. That’s why I can’t be happy with that. They know it very well, I even repeat it to them often”, referring to those responsible for the tuning fork brand.

Quartararo turned 86 laps on Friday, added 68 on Saturday and completed 79 this Sunday to close a test with 233 laps, which corresponds to 494 kilometers and more than eleven times the race distance in Mandalika (20 laps).

Enough training to draw conclusions about the competitive level of the bike that must defend the championship crown.

“I can’t do anything else,” he said, resigned and aware that there are less than six weeks left to start the World Championship in Qatar, on March 6, and that without testing, Yamaha cannot risk testing a new engine directly for the first race of the year.

“For my part, I am 100% prepared and I give it my all every time I am on the track. But we got what we got. We expected a much better top speed on this bike in 2022, but in fact it is exactly what I said, already I have said it many times and I am not going to say it anymore, because we already know what we have with the engine and the power. I can only be prepared and I will be 100%”, he said, making it clear that he was not going to stay.

In these circumstances, the Frenchman, who last year won five races to be champion, four of them in the first nine grand prix of the course, explained that on his side he no longer knew what else he could contribute.

“Honestly, I don’t know where we can do better. When you start to feel like the front end is moving all over the place, the rear end is sliding to the limit, it’s all shaking everywhere, it’s hard to find more. The most important thing is that the factory in particular is working hard to find something, to find more speed and make me feel less on the edge. To ride at this pace, every time I’m on the track I have to push a lot. Everybody is at the limit, but it is quite difficult for us”.

Fabio attempted an attack on the clock in the final part of the practice session and almost managed to set the fastest time when, with four minutes remaining in the test, he stopped the time just 14 thousandths behind Pol Espargaró.

“Now, when I go out on the track, it’s to go to war. I hope that when they want to work and find something, it’s the same,” he said, referring to the factory.

Fabio does not expect “anything special” for the first Grand Prix of the year, his work on the track and his messages putting pressure on Yamaha, like the one on Saturday when he said “my future is open”, hopes that they will have an effect and make Yamaha react.

“I think that for Qatar we will have nothing at all, unfortunately. What I can work on is studying each track as much as possible. Not making mistakes, qualifying well, making good starts. There is no room for error. In Portimao last year we qualified eighth and we were left behind. There is no room for error, I think the limit is to start from sixth position on the grid, otherwise we will be in serious trouble”, settled the boy from the Côte d’Azur.