Quartararo 'happy' with his race in Barcelona, ​​despite a 'catastrophic' year

The Way of the Cross that was the 2024 season of fabio quartararo comes to an end this Sunday in Barcelona. The 2021 world champion, the Nice rider saw Jorge Martín take the title from a distant thirteenth place in the general classification. Quartararo finished the last Grand Prix of the year in eleventh position, thus closing a year that the Yamaha rider quickly summed up in a post-race press briefing: "In terms of driving, I feel better, I learned a lot. I think we made the difference on a lot of things. In terms of results, it was catastrophic, except for the second half of the season. I don't have much to say about this 2024 season."

Although the season as a whole did not leave him with an unforgettable memory, the French driver was satisfied with his performance during this Grand Prix which marked the end of the season. He did not hesitate to describe this Grand Prix de la Solidarité as one of his best performances, while on paper, an eleventh place would not be an objective for a champion of his caliber. The reduced gap compared to Francesco Bagnaia is much more important to remember for "El Diablo".

“I tried the hard tyre, which we hadn’t tried all weekend. I was convinced it was the right choice, but I had no grip, and Bezzecchi in front of me with the soft. He was spinning the whole race and he still had more grip than me at the end of the race. We know clearly what we’re missing, what we need to improve, but I think I managed to have one of my best races, honestly. I finished ten seconds behind the leaders, and even if the position is not great, I think we can be happy with this race.”

"You know when you become World Champion, you don't know when you will be again"

By far the best representative of the Iwata brand, Fabio Quartararo hopes that the new attitude instilled by this 2024 season in his team will continue, and allow Yamaha to return to the top: “I have to compare myself to my teammate, because I only have one other Yamaha in the standings. Next year it will be great to have three bikes, with factory riders, who will give us more information, more data. This year has been difficult for us. We still need two or three things to fight for top 5s. I am not talking about victory because I think we are too far away. Step by step, we are managing to come back.

Of course I expected the bike to be a bit faster, but in the first half of the season what was most important for me were the changes in attitude and way of working, rather than whether the bike was faster or not. The concessions also helped. When an engine worked, we had it from the next race, we didn't have to wait for the bike to be tested, made reliable, etc. In the second half we managed to make good progress on the electronics especially. Tuesday's tests will be very important for us, to be able to feel if the engine is more powerful or not."

The number 20 wearer finally had a word in the form of advice for Jorge Martín, crowned World Champion this Sunday: “Pecco and Jorge have had two incredible seasons in the last two years, and I think he deserves the title this year because he has matured a lot as a rider and as a human being. He deserves this title so much. When the factory didn’t choose him for next year, he had the courage to leave, he really deserves this championship. It’s every rider’s dream to become World Champion. We know that in the end only one can win, and I can clearly imagine the feelings Jorge has today, and also in the months to come. You have to take every opportunity to celebrate the title, and that’s normal. You know when you become World Champion, but you don’t know when you will become World Champion for a second time, so he has to party until next year!”

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Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Barcelona.