This Sunday, September 19, 2021, Fabio Quartararo answered questions from journalists from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, at the end of the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.
We went to listen (via teleconferencing software) to the words of the French driver, who still leads the championship with 48 points ahead of Francis Bagnaia and fought like a lion on Ducati land.
As usual, we report here the words of Fabio Quartararo without the slightest formatting, even if it is partially translated (vouvoiement in English, tutoiement in French).
Fabio, you have tried everything. It was fantastic ! You must be very proud to have limited the damage to the championship in one of your best races…
fabio quartararo : “II think it's my best! To be honest, a victory is completely different but I think it's the first time I'm so happy with a second place. Not because of the championship, but because I gave everything. Also at the beginning, with Jack and Martín, I fought against them like it was the last lap, and I overtook Jack in a place where I would never have expected to overtake anyone. On the last lap I was a little too far from Pecco because he was much stronger than Jack in turns four and five. I wanted to overtake him at turn six but he was too far away and I skidded a lot. And in sector three, as I told him, he was like qualifying in the last lap of the race. The lean he had in turn 12... I said to myself "OK, I think it's time to stay calm". It was really a great race and it was the one I enjoyed the most. »
Obviously, you weren't thinking about the championship today...
« Yes, and today, to be honest, I had three or four moments where I was close to ending up on the ground. At one point, Jack widened and I widened too and then completely lost the front. Pecco then took a big advantage. And a lot of times, trying to follow Pecco, turn two, turn three, turn 13, I was completely at the limit, but honestly that's how I enjoy driving. When I caught up with Pecco a little, the team told me 2.7, 2.6, 2.3 and that motivated me. But catching Pecco is one thing, overtaking him was another story. He is really precise on his trajectories and I couldn't do anything »
Fabio, it seems you are alone against the Ducatis. Of course, what happened at the start of the race could happen again in the next races: could this change the outcome of the championship, in your opinion?
« I feel like it's true, because at the beginning when I saw Pecco escape, I was fighting with Jack, fighting with Martín... I only saw red (laughs) ! It wasn't easy, because overtaking a Yamaha with a Yamaha is one thing: We have more or less the same acceleration. But when the bikes are different... I was catching Pecco in sector 1 and sector 4, but as soon as I was behind him in sector 1, he was going to sector 2 and sector 3. Not just because of his engine , because at turns 11, 12 and 13 Pecco was much better than everyone. It's not about power. It felt a bit like a rubber band. It's true that maybe having a little more support from Yamaha, not technical support but riders, would be (good). But we'll see, we have something to try in the test. We struggle a lot to overtake, and it depends on the corners. In turns 4, 5, 6, in changes of direction, it's good, but these are not corners where it is normal to overtake. »
You had a different rear tire. Was it because you expected this scenario during the race?
« Let's say that for us the medium was a little better. The soft was also an option but my feeling was a little better with the medium. With the soft, it's true that you could attack a little more at the beginning but I did better with the medium this morning. I hesitated between doing more laps with the soft or more laps with the medium, and I decided on the medium. Then we produced a really good beat and I decided to go with that one. Soft was also an option for us but we decided to use medium. »
You are the French rider with the most podiums in MotoGP ahead of Christian Sarron, with 19 podiums. Does this make you proud?
« Not bad for a Frenchman (laughs)! I think it's good but obviously I don't want to stop there. I'm proud of this first thing, it's only the beginning. We hope to make the standard higher. »
You went to look at Enea's tire after the race: What did you see?
« It's always interesting to see different tires. He looked pretty destroyed on the left side (laughs) but it was interesting. It's difficult because I'm not an engineer, just a pilot trying to understand a little. But watching a tire is always interesting to see what's going on, and as it was really fast that's why I went to see. »
San Marino MotoGP Grand Prix results:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
