Quartararo, still leader, but does not understand how

Sunday fabio quartararo lined up on the starting grid of the race MotoGP in front of more than 110000 spectators (a record attendance at the French GP). If winning in front of his audience would have been magnificent, the world champion ultimately failed at the foot of the podium behind Aleix Espargaro. 

Long considered one of the best motorcycles on the grid, the Yamaha YZR-M1, even in the hands of the fastest rider, today cannot stand up to the Aprilia RS-GP. And this is exactly what Fabio Quartararo points out. “It's not that I don't have a bike that doesn't make a difference, it's that I don't have the opportunity to overtake or create an overtake,” laments the Frenchman.

« It's very difficult for us to overtake, I haven't done one the whole race »

 If Quartararo manages to catch up in the winding parts, he must do so at the limit and he loses everything at every stretch. And on a stop'n'go type circuit such as the Bugatti, you pay cash. “Nakagami overtook me on the straight, and I was able to pass him straight away in the third turn because I stayed stuck,” he said. As soon as I'm 5 or 10 meters away, it's impossible to try anything, because we all brake very late. I can't take this step. »

Quartararo therefore gives a rather mixed assessment of this weekend. Quick in practice, particularly in FP4, victory – the first for a Frenchman at the French GP in the premier category since 1954 – was within his reach, at least on paper. “I was lucky,” he emphasizes. Well, not luck, it's more that others made mistakes in these conditions. It's very difficult for us to overtake, I haven't done one the whole race. Honestly, I don't have fun racing. I can't find the pleasure I get from testing. »

And to continue “I’m not happy with my race. I'm not going to say it's a big disappointment, because I was the fastest all weekend, but a small mistake determines your result. So it's more frustration than disappointment. I'm getting used to it... I have no room for error. It's experience, but that's how it is, you'll have to be very, very strong. »

Despite everything, the Niçois scored the 13 points for fourth place overall and remained in control, but he wondered why... “I don't know how I manage to maintain this leadership position, because I really have difficulties,” he said after admitting that without the mistakes of his opponents, he would have finished eighth. 

Next meeting in enemy territory

The next meeting on the calendar is planned at Mugello, a track certainly favorable to the Ducati, but on which it triumphed last year with a lead in advance. “It’s going to be hard, because last year it was a different situation,” says Quartararo. When we win in Qatar, it's a bit like Mugello this year. We're going to have to do some crazy qualifying. We know that the Ducatis have taken a big step forward, but there I manage to slightly make the difference, I am very fast on the circuit. It will be about making a good start, a good first lap, no mistakes (…)”