Fabio Quartararo had a very challenging Sprint race at the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix. Despite being only 11 laps, there was a significant drop in tyre performance, and the Monster Energy Yamaha rider finished 12th, out of the points.
The French rider expressed his concern, stating: ‘In terms of position I wasn’t expecting better, because is the pace that we had during the test, is the pace we had during the weekend. But the way we finished was really, really strange. Having that drop in the Sprint was really strange and I don’t know how we are going to manage for the race tomorrow – because it was already very, very critical to finish the race in the Sprint and for the race is the same tyre. So, we’ll see’.
According to Quartararo, there was a performance drop in the tyres during testing, but not to the extent of what happened on Saturday: ‘In the tests I had a little drop, but I was almost… not one second faster, but I did three laps much faster and basically my Sprint race simulation was maybe five, six or seven seconds faster than today. We know that in the tests the grip is much higher and it’s a benefit for us, but the drop we had today, we never really had it. Especially in the Sprint race, it’s only 11 laps. If I was with the soft compound I could understand, but it was the race compound and we had many problems’.
The 2021 champion then said: ‘The rubber on the track is normal that during the test is always more – because we ride all day and there is always Michelin rubber, more laps, so the track is completely different to what we use to have in the race. But that much difference, I never really felt’.
When asked if the problems could be related to the rubber from the new Moto2 and Moto3 tyres deposited on the track, Quartararo downplayed it: ‘I don’t think so. To be honest, I never expected to do 1m51.9s because we struggled all the weekend. Basically with no grip conditions, 1m51.9s for us was quite fast, but we know that the others with low grip, there isn’t a big change’.