Fabio Quartararo arrives at the Catalunya GP in 12th position in the championship. The French rider suffered a crash in the last Le Mans GP while fighting for a place in the top 5. Despite the crash, Quartararo was satisfied with the performance of his bike and emphasized that it was the first race where he felt his bike competitive.
In an interview with ‘Relay’, Quartararo talked about the worst moments of his career.
– There is always a moment when we also have to ask ourselves questions, when we question ourselves. There was a moment when I said: “Let’s see… What’s going on here? But not for long, because with the experience I already have in MotoGP I know what I’m doing, I know my qualities and I saw that I didn’t doubt myself and now even less.
He added about whether the 2020 Fabio Quartararo could handle the situation in Yamaha the same way: ‘No, the Fabio of the past years was more delicate, because the more experience you gain, the more you learn from these things as well. I think it’s in the difficult years that you learn the most, because when everything goes well we don’t question ourselves, everything flows, but when things go wrong that’s when we have to question ourselves, stay calm, not doubt ourselves, our team, always be as calm as possible when we enter the box to explain to the mechanics, engineers… Everything, what’s happening on the bike, our comments and with the experience I have today, it’s much better.’
He also talked about what went through his mind in 2023, before renewing with Yamaha.
– Let’s see, when we got to this point… I’m not saying I’m going to leave, if I’m not really leaving. If I say I’m leaving, it’s because I’m really leaving. But thinking about it, yes, thinking about it and saying “it’s very hard for me.” Especially at the end of 2023, well, halfway, when I saw that we weren’t making any progress and had no idea how to do it. That was the moment when it was very hard for me and when I mentally struggled. But from the middle of the season, I was thinking about other things, trying to improve the bike, trying to work and, above all, doing it in a different way. But I never really said “I’m leaving.”
