Tenth on the first day of testing in Qatar, Fabio Quartararo was not particularly satisfied with his performance due to… too much grip. The Yamaha rider wants this problem to be solved, even considering that in the current state the situation is ‘unacceptable’. The rider also recalled Max Bartolini, who brought ‘great changes’ to the M1.
Looking at his day, despite saying that the new bike is fast, there is a problem that is not leaving the former world champion satisfied: ‘The new bike seems fast, yes, and this is a very good point, but it is not our main problem, but at least this is a very positive side of the development we had during the winter. The grip is horrible, it is aggressive on the bike. When we put on a new tire, there is basically no change, I only managed to get 0.2s difference with the new tire in eleven laps, so this is something unacceptable and we have to find a way to burn the tire for two laps, but improve the lap time, because we are very far away’.
Then, he continued and emphasized the difference to Francesco Bagnaia in a very specific part of the track, saying that he himself was on the limit: ‘In previous seasons, this was more or less the same problem. In the third sector… nowhere where I can lose 0.3s to Pecco [Bagnaia] who was using the medium tire. Basically, with my riding style, I know where the limit is and I was completely on the limit and had nothing more. I hope we can find the way’.
Quartararo also recalled some of the changes made to the bike with the former Ducati engineer: ‘Since the Sepang test we have always made big changes to the bike, with Max [Bartolini] who came from Ducati we made big changes, while in the past we used to change little by little and now we have made big changes and we can see the difference, but there are negative and positive points, but we need a lot of time to really find our potential’.
