Fabio Quartararo explains what he wants to do differently in the second half of the 2023 MotoGP season and hopes to have more desire to ride the Yamaha again in the future
When Fabio Quartararo rode his first MotoGP season in 2019, he was already starting to shake the supremacy of Honda star Marc Marquez here and there as the then rider of a satellite Yamaha team. The two of them fought several close duels for victories that season and there were signs of exciting subsequent years with the two of them as protagonists. But then everything turned out differently.
Directly at the season opener in 2020, which took place in Jerez in July at the time, Marquez suffered his momentous injury, which ultimately limited him for years. Quartararo scored his first wins in 2020, with Marquez not competing at all apart from the first race. In 2021, the Honda star bounced back with three wins before injuring himself again. Quartararo did not win his first world championship title in a duel against Marquez, but Francesco Bagnaia.
In 2022 the world championship duel Quartararo vs. Bagnaia continued, with the Ducati rider prevailing in this case. Marquez, on the other hand, missed several races again due to injury and was not an active participant in the title fight for the third year in a row. At the beginning of 2023, Marquez felt fitter than he had in years, but injured himself again at the season opener in Portimao.
In addition to the injury, Marquez found that the Honda is no longer as competitive as it was a few years ago. The same now applies to the Yamaha ridden by Quartararo. Marquez has already announced that he will take a new approach to the second half of the season. And that’s exactly what Quartararo now wants to do.
Quartararo: Silverstone as a foundation stone
“I think in the first part of the season I was too focused on what position I wanted to finish in the races. I was always focused on getting the win, the podium, the top 5 or whatever, but was never satisfied with anything,” said Quartararo.
“That’s why,” said the Yamaha star, “I want to ride the second half of the season as if it was my first MotoGP season. I will give one hundred per cent and the team will also give one hundred per cent. Our targets will be based on how our pace and qualifying speed were. If we can then say we gave one hundred per cent, we will be happy. “
At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Quartararo was on course for a top-10 finish coming from 22nd on the grid before a collision with VR46 rider Luca Marini dropped him to P15 in the final results. Although the result was another disappointment on paper, Quartararo says the foundation for his new approach was laid in that very race.
“Silverstone was already a small step forward,” he says, adding, “For the next ten races I want to change my approach completely. Because I believe that the most important thing is really to give one hundred per cent. By that I mean myself and the team. If I feel that we have given our best, then I will be happy. And if that is the case, then results will come. “
2024 really “the last chance” for Yamaha?
The new approach should only be a temporary solution for Quartararo, as he makes quite clear: “For the future, my goal is to get back with Yamaha to where we were two years ago, to be able to fight for wins and podiums.”
“The Misano test will be extremely important in that respect,” Quartararo stressed again what he already clearly expressed a few weeks ago. At the time, the 2021 MotoGP World Champion even threatened his employer by saying that there would be “no second chance” for Yamaha from his own side.
“I was a bit aggressive then, maybe too aggressive,” Quartararo says today about his choice of words at the beginning of August. Today he says he wants to fulfil his Yamaha contract, which is valid until the end of 2024. He does not rule out a further extension beyond 2024, but that would depend above all on whether they find their way back to the top together in the coming season.
“My personal goal is to become world champion again,” says Quartararo and continues: “Of course I would prefer it if that works out with Yamaha. It would be great to be able to fight back together after a difficult year like the current one. If that doesn’t work out, then I have to find another solution for myself. “
Race debut of 2024 M1 planned for Motegi, but …
The Misano test on 11 September referred to by Quartararo is expected to be the first test of the 2024 Yamaha prototype. And there is already a date for the planned race debut of this new bike. This is to take place on 1 October at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi.
However, Quartararo will not be riding the new M1 at Motegi, and certainly not his team-mate Franco Morbidelli, whose Yamaha time expires at the end of the 2023 season. Instead, the already decided wildcard entry of Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow at the Japanese Grand Prix will be with the 2024 machine.
Quartararo hopes Crutchlow’s wildcard entry will be marked by success, but is not expecting miracles from it. “I don’t think it will change the world. He will probably try the new bike on this occasion. But I don’t think it will be hugely different. I hope so, sure. But I don’t believe it,” says the Frenchman.
