Quartararo: "Asked since 2020 for changes to bike, Yamaha don't want to risk"

The Frenchman finished the San Marino MotoGP, where he had started, in 13th, then revealed he we will be “focussing on the [2024] engine” but also have “new chassis and new aero” for the test.

“So hopefully we can take some positives tomorrow.”

Although upgraded for this season, Yamaha’s current engine is still not strong enough to run high levels of downforce or battle with the likes of Ducati, KTM and Aprilia and he has switched back to the older, smaller wings for Catalunya and now Misano.

But the M1's straight-line performance was again exposed in Sunday’s race, where Quartararo spent the first half of the grand prix following the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and the second half in the wheel-tracks of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

The 2021 world champion even had a chance to test his theory that he would be much faster if he could ride alone.

• San Marino MotoGP: New World Championship standings
• San Marino MotoGP: Results
• San Marino Moto2: Results
• San Marino Moto3: Results

“Same as yesterday, I couldn’t overtake any rider,” Quartararo said. “In the last four laps, I made one lap where I decided to just slow down to make a gap with the guys in front of me.

“It was just for myself, to say ‘I will push a little bit more’ and see if I was able to go faster and I improved half-a-second [a lap].

“So basically, I could go much faster. And the pace with the bike we have was quite okay. So in terms of my riding, I’m happy with how I rode today.”

But the overtaking problem, which cannot be worked on during a test, “is a problem we’ve had for years and years.

“Even when I won the championship, I said ‘we cannot win anymore with this bike’. And last year, we finished second, we didn’t win. But this year is even worse.

“When you’re much faster than the guys in front of you, you have to overtake.

“This is what we are struggling with, in every single track it’s the same. Especially here was even worse.”

All of which means Quartararo is only eleventh in the riders standings and Yamaha fifth and last in the constructors’ world championship.

“I’m not enjoying. I’m giving my 100% but when you think that last year I finished P5 [here], two years ago I fought for victory with Pecco. And now we are that far [+15s]? It’s difficult.

“But I can be happy about my pace today because my pace was good.”

Although winless for over a year, Quartararo concedes that finishing runner-up to Francesco Bagnaia in last year’s title chase may have lulled Yamaha into a false sense of security over the size of the technical deficit.

“I asked since 2020 and 2021 for changes on the bike. But I guess for the Japanese mentality, when your bike is P1, you don’t want to take any risks. When you are second last year, fighting for the championship, they don’t want to take so much risk,” he said.

“So finishing in this kind of position [now] and seeing Yamaha is last in the constructors – maybe it will change a little bit. But of course we have to make big changes and I think we are many years in delay.”

However, Quartararo remains concerned that the Japanese management are not prepared to be “sufficiently aggressive… as aggressive as Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. They [Europeans] are much more aggressive and more direct, let’s say. If they want to improve ‘this area’, they have a plan to do it.”

Comparisons are often made between Quartararo and eight-time champion Marc Marquez, now winless at Honda for two seasons.

“For sure we are both in a bad situation,” Quartararo said.

Marc Marquez will also have a 2024 prototype to try at Misano on Monday.

The MotoGP rules prevent Quartararo from using any engine or fairing upgrades for the remainder of 2023, but the chassis could be changed for the remaining rounds if it also fits with the current engine.

Any aerodynamic developments outside of the prescribed 'aero body' locations, such as the rear seat unit, could also be raced this year.