Fabio Quartararo managed to return to the MotoGP podium yesterday, finishing third in the Indian GP. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider was in a battle with Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) for the second position until the end, and on the last lap he even managed to be in front of his rival… although he couldn’t hold him off.
The 2021 champion said in a press conference that in the battle of the last lap, he was able to identify the weak point in Yamaha’s performance: ‘It was very difficult, to be honest – especially the last lap. Throughout the race, I always had a disadvantage of one second, one and a half seconds, two seconds, to the riders ahead – Pecco [Bagnaia] and Jorge, because Marco [Bezzecchi] was already far ahead. But on the last lap, I really saw where our weak point was. We need to work on that area and hopefully we can take a step forward next year, because it’s something we really can’t compete with them on – we can keep up with the pace, but we can’t truly fight’.
About the fight with Martín on the final lap, Quartararo said: ‘The traction I had coming out of turn five was very bad. I was sliding a lot; I was trying to control it with the throttle, but unfortunately I had nothing left in the tire and with less grip and power I couldn’t fight. Also, going into turn ten I didn’t have confidence to lean quickly. But I can be happy because Marco was really on another level, we knew that before the start. Jorge won the sprint and at least we are getting a little closer. So, I think we can be very happy’.
