The world title is acquired and the heads are already at 2022, including Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman celebrated his hard-won crown and is now laying the groundwork for the next deadlines which, beyond that, will lead to the first negotiations for 2023 where, as he said in unison with his manager Eric Mahé, “ everything is open.” In Portimao, the Frenchman regretted his first crash retirement of the year. An outcome that her Yamaha imposed on her because she definitely does not have the weapons to recover from a poor qualification. And it's not a question of chassis...
At the finish of the Algarve Grand Prix, Fabio Quartararo was firm on its technical situation, this time directly putting the engineers Yamaha facing their responsibilities. In comments reported by motorsport magazine, we can thus read: “ I could have been much faster, but I'm still stuck behind the Ducati riders. I could have kept pace with Pecco Bagnaia, but instead I had to ride 15 laps behind Martin, who was almost a second slower than me ". And he makes this merciless conclusion: “ we are way too far from the speed needed on tracks like this. I see that our bike has obvious weaknesses that the others don't have. ».
Fabio Quartararo: “ the future is anything but rosy«
From there, he makes a sort of call to order to Iwata’s builder: “ it's very good that new chassis are constantly being tested in Jerez, Misano or Barcelona. But I think they should focus a lot more on the new engine. To be honest, the future is anything but rosy. We need more top speed because we just can't overtake ».
On his fall, he said: “ I know exactly why I fell : I braked too late and then wanted to turn. At that point I just had to try to push myself to the limits ". Finally, and to make himself clearly understood, he delivers this analysis: “ in the first race here at Portimao, Bagnaia started from 11th place and had no problem finishing second. We can fight for victory only if we can qualify well. If we miss it, we can say goodbye to the podium on Saturday ».
This speech about the Yamaha has been heard since the Rossi-Lorenzo era and never Yamaha has since revolutionized its engine. Which amounts to already asking the question of 2023 for the French World Champion.
