Fabio Quartararo is preparing for another season with Monster Energy Yamaha in MotoGP and the Sepang shakedown on Friday and Saturday were his first days on track with the new YZR-M1. Despite being encouraged by the potential of the bike, he admitted that it is not yet being fully explored and he has not yet felt significant improvements.
The Frenchman explained to the press that Yamaha needs to work on the electronics: ‘I’m sure it’s better, but I think we have to work a lot on the electronics to improve the character of the engine because it’s still very aggressive. We have the potential, but we’re not using it. I think we’re a bit far with the electronics, not only in the engine development. We have to find the best electronics for this engine and use it on our bike.’
When asked about how useful the shakedown was, Quartararo replied: ‘Unfortunately, we didn’t use them properly, but of course we did 80 laps, so it’s a lot. We saw a bit of our path, which was confirmed 100 percent. The first day was basically to test new things that shouldn’t be better, but shouldn’t be worse, especially for the weight of the bike, it was positive. On the second day, we had some difficulties in some parts of the bike. But I think we’ve already done good tests during these two days.’
The 2021 world champion then said: ‘Right now, I don’t really feel better. I feel that the potential is there. We didn’t go for a time attack. Of course, with the new tire, we attacked 100 percent and from lap 22 on the first day, I was doing 1m58.5s. So, it’s already quite fast. Now we have to focus on the time attack during these three days, I think it’s already in the plan, to be better.’
Asked if qualification is the most important thing, Quartararo replied: ‘I think the most important thing is to already be in the top ten on Friday afternoon. I believe that 70 percent of the work is done. Then, of course, I think we have to find a solution for qualification. In my riding style and on the bike, I don’t think it’s just one side. I believe we will find it.’.
