The Frenchman was complaining about the performance of the Yamaha 2022 throughout the preseason and the ninth place with which he started the course in Qatar seemed to confirm the forecasts, even though the rider was fast in training and exhibited great race pace.
In Indonesia , two weeks ago, supported by wet conditions that matched the machinery, Fabio won a second place that catapulted him to third place overall (27 points), then led by Enea Bastianini (30) followed by Brad binder (28).
However, at the Argentine Grand Prix, Fabio Quartararo suffered again at the handlebars of his M1 and was only able to cross the finish line in eighth place, partly thanks to the crashes of some riders who were driving ahead, such as Johann Zarco or Pol Espargaró, and to a considerable distance from the winner of the race, Aleix Espargaró, who surpassed him by more than 10.2 seconds.
“This year you never know what to expect in the races, but of course I didn’t imagine having Aprilia and KTM in the first two positions in the championship. But after the pre-season everyone was super fast, Aleix has been very fast from the start. day this year,” said Quartararo at the end of the race.
“We are seeing many surprises, but what I did not expect is that we were like this, although I would not say that far, because we are ten points away,” said the Frenchman, who is now fifth overall with 35 points.
The only positive thing for Quartararo is that the theoretical big favorites for the title, such as Pecco Bagnaia, Joan Mir and, if injuries are respected, Marc Márquez, none of them have yet been on the podium this year, and they are all behind him in the general.
“It’s good news, but I didn’t expect to be suffering so much,” he insisted.
The Frenchman missed a good opportunity to put distance with his main rivals, but ruined his options at the start.
“Honestly, my start was not the best, I was sixth on the grid, I stayed seventh in the first corner, but in the opposite lap they passed me and basically the first three laps were a nightmare, I had no grip and the 6 is a corner that is really easy to take because basically you have to try to keep as much gas as possible, but trying not to overheat the tire. But you have all those guys in front of you and in these types of corners they go away, it’s pure grip, “he said. complained about the lack of grip, once again, on the Yamaha.
“So the first three laps were a disaster, I lost all the positions and after three, four laps the grip got slightly better.
Once the race stabilized, Fabio found himself in 12th position, fighting with Zarco.
“Overtaking was difficult and right away I felt like the grip wasn’t the same. This is weird because you do all the practice, you feel really good, and then the race comes along and it’s totally different. That’s why it’s really frustrating.”
Another factor that did not play in Quartararo ‘s favor was the characteristics of the circuit.
“Well, this track is not the best for Yamaha either, because the straight is quite huge,” he said. “But I’ve done my best and I haven’t given up, but to do better today was difficult, because I lost a lot of positions at the beginning.”
“But to be honest, I don’t think I made any mistakes, just when the others have better grip than you, they can prepare for overtaking better.”
2So I think that’s why I also lost so many positions and unfortunately we didn’t have rear control. So from the warm-up lap I already knew it was going to be difficult”, settled the boy from the Côte d’Azur .
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