Fabio Quartararo handicapped by lack of grip in Qatar

Starting from the front line, fabio quartararo expected difficulties during the Grand Prix. From the first corner, he was boxed in by contact between the Márquez brothers, which made it difficult to get into the rhythm. The main problem? The weekend's schedule, where the MotoGP take to the track just after the Moto2s. The Pirelli tires of the Moto2s are incompatible with the Michelin tires of the MotoGPs, resulting in a chronic lack of grip, particularly difficult to manage for the Yamaha YZR-M1.

"Honestly, it's always the same thing, unfortunately.", he explained to Canal+. "When you ride after Moto2, you have trouble with grip on the bike. We saw that in the first laps, we lost places because of the contact between the Márquez brothers, and clearly we can't maintain our pace when we don't have grip. We gave our all throughout the race and unfortunately it wasn't enough."

After a good sprint that saw him finish fifth, overtaken by Fermín Aldeguer on the final corner, the 2021 world champion was unable to repeat this performance. According to him, the fact that he only had to battle with Franco Morbidelli's Ducati on the first laps allowed him not to suffer too much from his machine's lack of top speed. "The difference with the Sprint is that there was a small group that was far away on Saturday. I was able to hang on to Morbidelli in fourth position. Once you're part of that group, you see that we're clearly lacking engine power. Added to that at the start of the race where we struggle in terms of grip, it's difficult to perform."

Positive things to remember

While the disappointment can also be seen as a good sign, that the performance of Iwata's machines is improving, "El Diablo" takes some positives from this fourth round of the season. Managing to claim a third-place finish in qualifying in one lap is a feat the Frenchman hasn't achieved since 2022, and the Dutch Grand Prix. Quartararo started that day from second position at Assen.

"This weekend gave me a bit of confidence, and above all made me feel fast over a lap, and that hadn't been the case for a while. Of course, on long runs or a long race, we struggle more, but the weekend was still good. It wasn't the race I was hoping for, but we still left with a good feeling."

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