Return to the highest level in MotoGP is an extremely difficult exercise, but after seeing two recurring problems with his machine resolved, fabio quartararo arrives at the Grand Prix of the Americas at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, knowing full well what's next...
Since being crowned world champion in 2021, fabio quartararo has seen its Yamaha stagnate while the competition has progressed. Suffering primarily from a chronic lack of power that it had previously compensated for with its cornering speed, the M1 has made progress in this area before finding itself faced with a lack of performance in qualifying.
As we have seen, the men from Iwata and Italy, far from being discouraged, have taken the problem head on and have not hesitated to invest massively in all areas to regain their former glory. And during the winter tests, the light at the end of the tunnel finally seemed to appear, at least partially, The Devil leaving Malaysia with the 3rd time, Thailand with the 10th time.
It is therefore pending confirmation that the Frenchman has embarked on a 2025 season, the start of which has already provided a first response, the Yamaha #20 having gone directly into Q2 in the two rounds completed, each time with the 8th fastest time in Practice.
Finally qualifying 10th and 7th, the Sprints, and especially the Grands Prix, then highlighted a new area of work, the constraints imposed on the rear tire over the laps. During the four starts made, the Yamaha rider started well but then saw his pace collapse compared to his rivals, even if the incident caused by Marco Bezzecchi in Argentina did not help matters.
In the end, the Nice driver arrived in Texas in 15th position, behind the Hondas of Johann Zarco, Joan Mir and Luca Marini, with only 6 points to his name.
In the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team, we have clearly identified the problem and the Team Manager Massimo Meregalli shared his views ahead of the third round of the championship: “It’s great to see that we’ve achieved our goal of improving our pace in qualifying. What’s less positive is that we’ve left something behind over the race distance. Vulnerability to tire wear has increased to a point never seen before. This is precisely where we need to start. Recently, Fabio hasn’t made any mistakes and has simply been unlucky. The fact that he managed to score points in Argentina is a great performance. We know we need to work on our race performance, but we’re looking forward to the next race at the Circuit of the Americas. We can assure you that Yamaha and both MotoGP teams have not been idle. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the next GP. We always enjoy the time we spend in Austin, and so do our riders. COTA isn’t a particularly easy circuit: it’s fast, technically challenging, physically demanding, and quite bumpy.” However, we have achieved decent results here in the past and our drivers love this circuit, especially Alex, so we are fully motivated to start the weekend and give our best."
For its part, fabio quartararo made sure to be in top shape, to get the most out of his mount: “We were unlucky in the Argentine GP and overall the weekend didn’t go the way we wanted, so it’s good that we have another round coming up. We know we have work to do, so this weekend will be about that, and hopefully we can take a step forward. I spent some time in America after the Argentine GP to make sure I wouldn’t suffer from jet lag and would be fully ready for this GP. I like the COTA circuit, and I also like Austin in general, so I’m looking forward to it.”
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2023 on a track he loves, the Frenchman could not do better than P15 and P12 last year, after qualifying P16.
The GP of the Americas will therefore allow us to judge the progress made by the M1 since then.
Austin Fabio Quartararo Austin Fabio Quartararo
