7th, 2 seconds off the podium at the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix, fabio quartararo might be satisfied with his weekend in Mandalika. Yet, the word he uses most often to describe it is " odd ", and he explains why.
First, we will report his debriefing here, then we will come back to what seems important to us.
As usual, we report here in full the words of the latter, without the slightest formatting, even if it is partially translated from English (formal use).
🎤 Fabio, a solid result on paper, but how do you feel?
fabio quartararo : “Hot! I was behind everyone and I had the exhaust in my neck, so I was burning (smile). But no, I felt good. I also had to choose different tires: the hard one at the front, the soft one at the rear, so those were the only tires I felt pretty good with. And it was difficult because you had to pay a lot of attention to the rear tire and especially, it was difficult because I couldn't overtake anyone, especially because coming out of the corners, they were all moving away. But yeah, I think I rode well and I was quite smart in the way I was able to manage the rear tire.
I think it was a strange weekend, more than just a strange day. Looking back at how everything went, I think it was definitely strange. But yeah, for me, I think all the people who were up front—I mean Fermin was second on the grid, Pedro was fifth, Alex was seventh—but I mean, everyone up front on the grid, those are the ones who finished there. So I don't find it really strange, but I didn't expect to be that close to the podium, because I think we finished less than three seconds, or less than four seconds. So yeah, it's a strange weekend, I would say, more than the race."
🎤 Alex Rins was on the podium for a few laps. What happened?
“I know exactly what was going on. I mean, when you have the soft rear tire, I was behind him for two or three laps, and I couldn’t pass him. But then I saved the tire a little bit, and he got away in a couple of laps, and I thought to myself
"hum". I didn't know if it was going to last until the end, but I had to keep my tire a little fresh. I think with seven laps to go, I saw him still second and I said to myself
“Hmm, maybe I over-managed it a little.”, but then the problem in general is that when the tire is worn out, it's finished. And I think that's what happened."
🎤 He had a good race, coming back and overtaking, which is quite unusual for the Yamaha. Is this a good sign of progress or just related to this circuit?
“Yes, just at this circuit. But above all, I also think about the way he was pushing. I also think Raul and Marini went wide, so he was only able to pass Marini, but he overtook both of them. He was also strong on Acosta. But yes, you can clearly see that the power is on another level, so I was really impressed with the way Alex rode this weekend, because for me, it was one of my worst weekends in terms of feeling. But he was super, super fast, and it was good to have some data to see how I could improve.”
🎤 Does this somewhat fix something that has been missing, solid support from within Yamaha in recent months?
“I think I'm curious to see, in Australia and Malaysia, how he's going to ride, and also the others, Miguel and Jack, because it was a really strange weekend. For me, when you start to see that I had the hard front tire that nobody used, and the soft that only two or three of us used, something is really strange. But I think we managed to be pretty good, even though it wasn't a great weekend for us.”
🎤 A super weird race. Imagine a guy who hasn't watched MotoGP for 2 years, he turns on the TV, he doesn't understand what's going on...
“Super weird! And also the tires, we made a pretty risky choice, hard at the front, soft at the rear. We really had to manage the rear tire well. We saw Alex who was 2nd at one point, and I didn't think Not that he would get that far, but then we saw that when the tire drops, it's mainly the temperature that rises. But we did the max and I think that, there you go, we clearly lack power to try to overtake. I didn't manage to overtake anyone and I think that's at least what we lack to fight in the race."
🎤 Why did you choose hard front?
"Because I brake quite hard. I needed stability. We lacked grip, but at least I could brake quite hard on the straight braking points, like 1, 2, 10, and in the last right-hand corner where the tire was overheating a lot: I needed stability."
🎤 I had a chat with Mayo for a while today, a bit about the evolution of the bike, your frustration and all that, and he reminded us that compared to last year, if we look at it globally, you're still riding a lot faster...
"No, I see it in a way where, as Team Manager, you have to talk in the positive. I talk more in reality, where clearly we have improved enormously over one lap, but on the race pace, we have not improved. Except that last year I did not score points because I started 17th, 18th. Now I start first, 3rd, 5th and that's what makes the big difference: last year, the pace was quite good, except that we started 18th. So, there you go."
🎤 Australia?
"Australia, listen, it's going to be a little bit like here, so I think we can go very fast if we can make the tire work. Especially in the last sector, last year, we struggled. It's going to be complicated, but I think it's going to be good."
🎤 Isn't the allowance the same?
"Normally, no."
Results Grand Prix Indonesia 2025 :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
MotoGP Indonesia Fabio Quartararo MotoGP Indonesia Fabio Quartararo
