Fabio Quartararo can only race “defensively” on “frustrating” Yamaha MotoGP bike
“It’s the only way for us to overtake, and was completely wrong”
Fabio Quartararo says he always has to ride “defensively” on the Yamaha MotoGP bike and is “frustrated” by this after losing out on a strong result in the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint.
The 2021 world champion has been in good form in recent weeks aboard the updated M1, with Quartararo making it into Q2 for the last three grands prix directly from Friday.
At Mandalika, Quartararo put his M1 sixth and was even tipped by Ducati’s Davide Tardozzi to be a potential podium threat in the 13-lap sprint.
But Quartararo ended up out of the points in the 12th as contact with Franco Morbidelli while trying to pass him for sixth place at Turn 16 dropped him down the order.
The Frenchman says over-the-limit moves like this are the only way he can overtake on the Yamaha as it has no strong points over the Ducati.
“It’s the only way for us to overtake, and was completely wrong,” he said.
“I pushed to the maximum, but we have basically less grip than them, less acceleration, more wheelies, more problems to stop the bike.
“We don’t have any strong points compared to them, so we are riding in a defensive way during the race to not get overtaken but also we can’t overtake.
“During the fight, it’s many years that we are quite bad in Yamaha.
“But especially now I start to have the pace, but I was not even able to make one overtake. So, this is the point we have to get stronger faster.”
Quartararo added: “It’s frustrating because it has always been the same issue, about not possible to overtake.
“2022 was really similar but in 2022 the other brands were not that strong.
“So, I could fight more in front. But now basically if you are behind you are stuck and you can’t do anything.”
Quartararo has finished on the podium in the previous two Indonesian GPs, but doesn’t expect that trend to continue on Sunday in 2024.
“[I’m] not confident at all for the podium, because we are not fast enough to fight for the podium,” he added.
“We can maybe make a good race, try to finish top six in the long race. But will depend a lot on the first laps and see what we can achieve.”
