For the second time in three weeks Fabio Quartararo manages P3 in a Grand Prix, but again underlines his demand to Yamaha for more power
In what has been a largely frustrating 2023 MotoGP season for him and Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo finished on the podium for the second time in three weeks on Sunday. He finished the Indonesian Grand Prix in Mandalika in third place, less than half a second behind surprise winner Francesco Bagnaia. However, Quartararo is not jumping for joy because the well-known Yamaha problems were again evident on Sunday.
“Frustrating!” was Quartararo’s first word at Parc Ferme. “We know what we are lacking. That’s what makes it so frustrating,” he alluded to the Yamaha M1’s lack of top speed, especially compared to Bagnaia’s Ducati, but also to second-placed Maverick Vinales’ Aprilia.
In the interview with MotoGP promoter Dorna and also in the press conference, Quartararo expressed himself somewhat more calmly after the race. However, the former World Champion makes no secret of his frustration about his material-related disadvantage on these occasions either.
“We have been struggling with the same problem for years now. We just have to improve,” Quartararo once again takes his employer Yamaha to task and tries to look on the bright side: “At least I proved to myself that I can be fast and much better than just third.”
“The key moment of my race was the warm-up lap,” reveals the Yamaha star. Why was that? “That’s when I tried to spin the rear wheel quite a lot,” he says of how he wanted to get the rear tyre (medium compound) to the best possible temperature for the start and the early stages.
In this initial phase of the 27-lap race, Quartararo initially rode at the end of the top 5 and even outside of it at times. The longer the race lasted, however, the closer he came to the top. He made up more than 3.5 seconds on the eventual winner “Pecco” Bagnaia. At the finish, Quartararo was still 0.433 seconds and two positions behind, not least because he couldn’t get past Vinales.
Overtaking manoeuvres under his own steam almost impossible
The Yamaha rider describes the last two corners from his point of view: “In the last right-hand corner ‘Pecco’ was very slow. But because Maverick was already on the inside, it was very difficult for me to try anything else. He was at the limit, I was at the limit. I didn’t have a real chance to even try an overtaking manoeuvre. It would have been too risky. “
“The only one I overtook today was Aleix,” Quartararo addressed Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro. The Spaniard had chosen the soft tyre compound on the rear wheel, contrary to Michelin’s recommendation.
As a result, Espargaro visibly lost grip and ground the longer the race went on. Apart from him, Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez (both RNF-Aprilia) as well as Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3-GasGas) also opted for the soft compound on the rear wheel.
Quartararo: “I would be really happy if … “
In terms of front tyre compound, race winner Francesco Bagnaia opted for the hard compound, runner-up Maverick Vinales for the medium compound and Quartararo for the soft compound. With such a soft front tyre, Bagnaia’s World Championship rival Jorge Martin crashed while in the lead. Did Quartararo also have scary moments?
“I had a few moments. But I think it was still the best tyre choice for us. It’s clear that I didn’t have quite the stability with it, but it was the right thing to do the race with this tyre,” says the Yamaha rider. Finally, he underlines his claim once again.
“The fact that we have now finished on the podium twice in three races is great. Hopefully this is an incentive for Yamaha to do something bigger,” said Quartararo. Postscript: “I would be really happy if next year we had a bit more engine power so that we can at least try to overtake on the brakes at the end of straights. “
