Fabio Quartararo spoke to Manuel Pecino. During the last outing at Misano it was interesting to know the position of Fabio Quartararo, who rode well on a circuit he enjoys and where he has been seen doing great things in the past. It is clear that everything is not yet in order at Yamaha, but at least the Frenchman is working on his mentality when it comes to seeing the positive side of things.
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His feeling when getting off the motorbike in Barcelona…
“The truth is, I was happy. Because I went from 17th to 7th place, I felt like I rode really well. I saw exactly where we were losing, where we needed to improve. Of course I don't like the result, finishing seventh like in 2019 in my second race. In the end, it's not that I'm happy to finish seventh, but I'm happy to have ridden very well. I don't even look at the result. »
Have you thought about doing like Viñales (by leaving Yamaha)?
“No, not at any time. I'm not going to leave when things are bad. I'll never give up. At the end of the day, we are a team, through good times and bad. Of course, I was able to criticize, I was able to say a few aggressive words, but above all in a slightly unconscious way to motivate the team.”
“At the end of the day, when you put a brand and a team as high as we did in 2021, 2022 was even better than 2021. The bike we had last year, compared to the others, was much less efficient. Every year I've gone downhill, but the goal is that when you're at your lowest, you can bounce back to the top. The desire I have to put Yamaha back at the top is enormous. »
When we talk about Yamaha's situation, in 2020 they finished second, in 2021 they won the world championship and last year they finished second. Now they are in a bad phase, but what factory doesn't have bad phases?
“Japanese mentality. For me, last year, I had a better year than in 2021, but how many Yamahas have been ahead of Pecco in a race? Very little, if it wasn't me, it wasn't anyone. But how many Ducatis finished ahead of me in 2022? It's like that, and in the end, the last six races are where the Ducati has had the most success. »
“We finished less than fifteen points away from the world championship. For me it was a very complicated year at the end of the season, but it continued like this until now, we are going down and we are stabilizing, and we will see if now we can really make the jump to the top. Yamaha clearly knows that we are in a very complicated period, that the bike is not powerful and that it does not allow us to go to the limit like the others. The limit is much earlier, so we have to work to improve. »
Would you like to keep the Yamaha simple but effective, or a machine like the Ducati?
“To tell you the truth, the Yamaha was simple in 2019. In 2020 it already started to be more complicated, 2021 a little more, 2022 even more. This year it's not the Yamaha that everyone wanted when Syahrin was riding it and going fast, it doesn't exist anymore. You have to ride the bike a lot more aggressively than in 2019, when people were telling me I was riding a bit like Lorenzo. But this no longer exists at Yamaha. »
“There's already been a bit of that change, from an easy bike to having a bike that's quite complicated at the moment, quite aggressive. We have the most aggressive bike, but not the fastest, we haven't improved and that's what we have to do. For me to have such an aggressive bike compared to four years ago, we would have to have improved times like the Ducati; a second from 2019 to today, or even more. However, we have circuits which mean that in 2019, we were faster than today. »
Has your riding changed with an aggressive bike?
“Yes, I had to adapt to the situation. From 2019 to 2022 and now, my riding style has completely changed. In 2019 I was taking corners a lot faster, but this bike doesn't allow me to do that. You have to adapt to what you have. But I adapt quite quickly to any riding style. »
Yamaha's development and what they say to Quartararo…
“Really, I don't want to know a lot of things, because I know I want other things, but in the end, I push every weekend, and every Thursday, every Sunday, I have a meeting with them . What are you doing ? Are you planning to make a big change? Are you starting to be more aggressive? They don't really tell me what they're doing, but I push them to the limit so that they go to the end of the rules and the bike. »
“Today, we are in a logic of caution, but in MotoGP, there is no caution, you have to go as much as possible. This is what we try to do to really be on the limit. I push them to take their turn in what they do. »
The arrival of Alex Rins at Yamaha in 2024…
“He can add something extra. First of all, he's a person that we're a lot more similar to because we have a lot more conversations with Alex, who is a very fast driver. I think we can understand each other much more quickly, the communication between us, the driving style he has… It can be a very strong team. I really hope it will be a bit like the beginning of 2021, where with Maverick we pushed each other to the limit to go as fast as possible. I think it's a very good way to evolve with a team. »
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Manuel Peking
