Fabio Quartararo hints at unexpectedly strong pace from Yamaha in Thailand

An early crash derailed what could have been a first MotoGP podium of the season for Fabio Quartararo at the Thai Grand Prix.

Such was Quartararo’s pace after he crashed, he felt that a result comfortably inside the top-10, or even on the podium, could have been possible without the contact from Franco Morbidelli on lap four.

“It’s difficult, because I was always looking on the TV [during the race] where [Francesco] Bagnaia was,” Quartararo explained after the race.

“I know he was opening the gap to us, but he was not opening the gap a crazy amount. I think that between third and seventh was something realistic, [but] I was just checking by the TV, so it’s difficult to say exactly.”

Yamaha struggled in the dry in Thailand to generate temperature in the rear tyre, and those issues persisted in the wet conditions of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“We struggled from the morning to warm-up the rear tyre, especially on the left, and the electronics were pretty tough to understand,” Quartararo said.

“It was cutting a lot, and in a straight line the bike was not pushing; some corners were good, some corners not, and this is what I don’t understand with the bike.”

Quartararo found positivity in his pace after his crash, though, which was fairly comparable with race winner Francesco Bagnaia — both able to lap consistently in the mid-to-high-1:40s, and Quartararo able to do so despite some significant crash damage.

“I think after the crash — even if I was without a wing, the steering was bent, no rear brake, the [right] footpeg was cut in half — I think the pace was good, even after that. I think that’s quite positive.”

Quartararo also felt he and his Yamaha team had been able to improve the performance of his YZR-M1 from the morning to the afternoon, particularly regarding his feeling with the front tyre, even if he felt there was still margin to improve.

“So, especially here I’m struggling with the front because, mainly, we are quite strong in the wet in straight braking,” he said.

“Here, I was struggling in the morning, this afternoon was better. Still [a lot of] locking on the front, but I think that from the morning to this afternoon was an improvement; this is why, even if the bike was quite broken [after the crash], I wanted to follow, to make more laps, and to feel if the electronics were better or not.”

The front locking issue got progressively worse for Quartararo as the race went on.

“Especially at the end, because for us the front was really critical, I lose a lot, and on the straight braking was really locking,” Quartararo said.

“But, the grip for us, like I’ve said in the dry, the bike depends way too much on the track [grip], because when the track is grippy we go much better than when there is no grip.”