This Friday September 16, 2022, fabio quartararo answered questions from journalists from the Motorland Aragón circuit at the end of the first day of the Aragón Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion French driver still occupies command of the world rankings but must now face the meteoric rise of Francis Bagnaia who has won the last four races. Aragón is a circuit that has never really been successful for him even if, as is the case today, the Yamaha rider generally sets good times there on Friday.
As usual, we report here the words of fabio quartararo without the slightest formatting, even if it is partially translated (vouvoiement for English, tutoiement for French).
Fabio, it looks like you had your best time with the new chassis…
fabio quartararo : " Yes! »
Does the new chassis look promising?
« To be honest, the chassis is really similar. I think I was faster because I started with new tires on the new chassis and then I decided "OK, I'm doing laps with the new chassis because we know we're already fast with the standard" . I wanted to try the new one and it wasn't too bad, considering we are second having made a mistake during my lap. So it's not that bad. »
Are you going to continue with tomorrow, or are you going to go back to the old?
« I think we'll keep the new one. We still have to talk about it but nothing has been negative. Nothing has been really positive yet, but normally we'll keep this one.
»
How was the grip today?
« This morning it was almost a disaster. The grip was a disaster but there was also something wrong with our bike: I don't know why, but we had problems getting the tires warm. So it was really irregular and not constant. This afternoon I was much more consistent and very happy with my pace. We will check if we still have margin in certain places, but I think we did a very good job this afternoon. »
How is the balance of the bike?
« In general, the balance of the bike means we can be fast, but the problem is not being fast, it's being able to be fast in the race. This is the difficult part because if you look at Austria, our pace was the one to fight for victory, but we stayed behind and we couldn't overtake. So in the end, you can be, I wouldn't say half a second slower but you can be a lot slower and fight for victory, if you have the speed to overtake easily. This is what we are missing. Because if you check at all the circuits, on paper we are still there to fight for victory, then we are no longer there. This is what is happening, not just here but generally. But of course we have to start from the front line if we want to hope for anything. »
Did you use the silver rims to avoid tire pressure problems?
« I think I still use the silver rims. I think my chief mechanic has been thinking about this race for a lot of races already. And I think we work a lot in this area of keeping the tire pressure more or less under control, because every year I have this problem. Hopefully we can do something much better than in years past. »
You said you had less fun during qualifying. Does this mean you will change your strategy?
« No, the strategy is always the same, it’s having the knife to your throat (laughs). But I'm enjoying it a little less because when you know you can really fight for pole position, it's something different. Currently, fighting for pole position in every race is not possible, but the energy remains the same. »
In qualifying, do you take care that there is no one behind or in front of you?
« Yes ! Usually I'm never anyone but maybe tomorrow I'll look for someone. »
Can you make a strategy with Franco Morbidelli?
« Yes. Of course it's possible. Franco knows that, whenever he wants, he can follow me. I think it's already been quite a few races that I've been trying to help Franco because it can also be a help for me to see what the full potential of the bike is. So let's hope that tomorrow he can qualify directly in Q2, then maybe we will do a strategy together.
»
Is this the usual scenario where you feel good during the tests, and then it gets worse?
« We'll see ! We'll see. In any case, I felt good this afternoon, so that's something very important. We'll see if tomorrow we can do the same step as the others.
»
Are you still not very comfortable in the last corner?
« This is a corner where I have always had difficulty. There, it looks like it was a little bit better, but it's a corner where I've always had trouble since I was little. So we will try to find a solution but I think that this afternoon was already much better. »
On the rest of the circuit, what are you missing to be faster: Above all the engine, the chassis or the driving technique?
« I don't know. Afterwards, I know that today we lost a lot in sector three. It is therefore a sector where we will have to work a lot, especially for qualification. But in any case, I think we can have a good race, but we have to start on the first row. »
What does the new chassis bring you? Agility in fast turns?
« No, on this circuit we unfortunately didn't feel anything. In Misano there were such perfect conditions that you could really feel the difference, but here, on this circuit, you didn't feel any difference at all. So we're going to look at the data and we're going to see if we continue to use this chassis or not. In any case, whether I use it or not, it's almost nothing at all: maybe a little bit better or a little bit worse, but the difference is really minimal. »
🗣 F. Quartararo: “We always aim for a first line”#AragonGP #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/tSAgAJWkCZ
- CANAL + MotoGP ™ (@CanalplusMotoGP) September 16, 2022
MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix FP2 results:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
