Quartararo ‘all in’ but says it’s good ‘to not care’ about championship picture
Quartararo is attempting to win his second MotoGP title in succession, however, the Yamaha rider needs to overhaul a massive 23-point deficit in order to do so.
Due to Francesco Bagnaia holding a 7-to-3 advantage in terms of wins, Quartararo has to outscore the Italian by 24 points, meaning victory is the only result that will give him a chance.
With that in mind, Quartararo said: "The goal is clear! I only have one goal in the head and I have nothing to lose,” when speaking in the pre-event press conference.
"I will do my best to do it and fight for the win. Of course, it’s not the best situation to fight for the championship but it’s a good situation to not care at all. Whatever happens it will be a tough season but a good one. It’s all in!"
Bagnaia ‘clearly’ Quartararo’s main MotoGP contenders despite early mistakes
Although Quartararo held a 91-point advantage of Bagnaia prior to Assen, the Yamaha rider always considered the Italian his biggest threat despite Aleix Espargaro never being more than 40 points behind him.
Asked about when he thought Bagnaia could make a run at closing his lead, Quartararo added: "I think quite early in the season even before Silverstone, or just after Silverstone.
"Aleix was much closer to me but you could see clearly that he was going super fast and I knew he was the one that would really fight for the championship. Sometimes I wanted to push too much and I did too many mistakes."
While this weekend’s race holds the most importance to Quartararo at present, the reigning champion couldn’t help but mention Tuesday’s post-season test after hearing ‘good news’ regarding the development of the M1.
An improved package was already on show at the Misano test a couple of months ago, however, more speed is seemingly on the way for the Frenchman.
"Of course, I’m really looking forward to Tuesday because I heard some good news," said Quartararo. "But the priority is Sunday and to enjoy that race. It will be super important and so my priority is Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
