Fabio Quartararo appeared with red eyes and a closed face to debrief after a difficult first day of testing in Malaysia.
This is the image from the first day of the Thailand test: fabio quartararo, annoyed on his Yamaha, giving him the middle fingerThe tone is set one week before the first Grand Prix of the season. The Frenchman then appeared with red eyes and a closed expression during his debriefing interview with MotoGP.com.
"It's been a long and difficult day, but we'll try to find a solution tomorrow to get a better feeling and try to last at least two months with the same bike. That would be great.", did he declare.
“Frankly, I think everything [is frustrating]. We’re trying to understand how the bike works, what its base is. Of course, we know that at Sepang and a little bit here, we’re having difficulties with the engines, but above all, I’m trying to find a baseline. We changed the settings a lot today, we didn’t stop all day. We’ll try to find something for tomorrow, but for now, I’m still struggling to find my bearings.”
After posting the 16th fastest time this morning, he finished 18th in the day's combined times, but more importantly, 1.2 seconds behind the leader and only a tenth of a second behind the best Yamaha, ridden by Jack Miller, who finished 17th. The Japanese manufacturer is far behind, just as it was during the Malaysian test earlier this month.
While Yamaha executives keep reiterating that developing this new V4-powered motorcycle requires patience, the riders' season is shaping up to be very long. Following the difficult 2025 season, Quarterly He is therefore preparing to go through even more complicated times, despite having managed to secure pole positions and podium finishes last year.
“I know, especially over a single lap, how fast last year’s bike was. We now know we’re still very slow. There’s a lot of work to do to at least feel comfortable on the bike, but we’ll see what we can do tomorrow and especially during the first two months. I know we won’t be ready, but we’ll at least try to feel as comfortable as possible so we can enjoy it a little.”, he concluded.
Combined results of first day Thailand test :
Classification and photo credit: MotoGP.com
