Fabio Quartararo: “Disconnecting brain” key to Jack Miller’s Yamaha MotoGP speed in Thailand

Fabio Quartararo says Jack Miller has been able to extract more from the Yamaha on Saturday at the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix because “he disconnects the brain a little bit more than us”.

Miller’s Yamaha debut got off to a good start on Saturday at Buriram, as the Pramac rider qualified fourth - six places and 0.299s clear of factory rider Quartararo.

In the early stages of the sprint, Miller was also top Yamaha has he ran in sixth spot before crashing on lap seven of 13.

Quartararo inherited top Yamaha honours after this, bringing his M1 home in seventh after losing out to KTM’s Pedro Acosta.

The 2021 world champion says he expected more from his qualifying, but is struggling to find the feeling he needs from the stiffer tyres Michelin has brought to Thailand - which was an issue that plagued him in the test too.

“I’m struggling with the tyres this weekend, especially with the front, but also with the rear because I’m not able to find the feeling to attack from the first lap and find the grip,” he said.

“That’s something that even in the test I was not able to do. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Asked if he needs to look at what Miller is doing to make an improvement, Quartararo said: “We checked.

“Especially he disconnected a little bit more the brain than us. We checked.

“He was behind Pecco [Bagnaia, in qualifying], of course there was a little bit of slipstream but I think that Turn 4, the brain was totally switched off and a big amount of the lap time is there.

“Yeah, he was very, very fast and it’s something that I really like to have, to have someone like Jack who pushes the bike to that extra limit.”

Fabio Quartararo “just suffering” in Thai MotoGP sprint

Quartararo says his position was not a surprise, but admits he didn’t expect to feel as bad on the bike during the sprint as he did.

The Yamaha rider says this was down to his front tyre pressure being too high, which meant he was “just suffering” in the latter stages of the race.

“In terms of position, it’s exactly what I expected,” he said.

“The pace, realistically, was between seventh and ninth. In terms of feeling, I didn’t expect to feel that bad because the front pressure was super high and I could not really push.

“Was many laps at the end I was not able to ride. I mean, from mid-race to the end I was just suffering.

“But let’s hope tomorrow to start with a better pressure to be able to, not even fight more but just to be a little bit closer to the others.”

A key issue that remains on the M1 is its lack of traction, which Quartararo notes is a problem both on acceleration and in braking zones given his corner-entry style.

“I mean, for me we are struggling to stop with the rear, and also on the throttle it’s the worst.

“But also stopping, we stop a lot with the front and this is something we have to improve. But still struggling a bit.”

Quotes provided by Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren