Fabio Quartararo feels things are getting “worse and worse” for Yamaha despite its best efforts to dig itself out of its current slump in MotoGP.
The 2021 champion struggled to 18th in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, finishing almost 44 seconds behind race winner Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati. His final position was compromised by a long lap penalty, though he was already running outside the points in 16th place when he was sanctioned for repeatedly exceeding track limits.
His team-mate Alex Rins, returning to MotoGP after an injury-induced absence, could finish only 16th and some 37s down on Bagnaia, meaning Yamaha failed to score manufacturer points in a grand prix for the first time since the Dutch GP in 2022.
Quartararo was visibly frustrated after recording his joint-lowest result of the year and left the track early after the race to fly to Misano for a private test, missing most of his media commitments.
In a short interview with French TV broadcaster Canal+, he said: «Clearly one of the worst weekends of the season. We’re trying to improve but it’s getting worse and worse, unfortunately. We can’t seem to find a way to improve.
“I tried to push really hard in the first laps like the others do but unfortunately, we’re really getting overtaken. Then, [tyre] pressure problems and there you go, we see that the result is disastrous.»
Quartararo, Rins and the rest of the Yamaha team will be in Misano from Monday to Wednesday as part of a private test also attended by Honda and KTM.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Both Quartararo and Rins will be allowed to test the M1 themselves as part of the concessions they have received from MotoGP following Yamaha’s winless 2024 campaign.
The Iwata-based marque will be hoping that the two-day test will offer some answers about its lack of pace at Spielberg, where it was outperformed by not only its European rivals but also Honda.
“It was a race day to forget,” said Yamaha’s team director Massimo Meregalli. “It’s been a mirror image of the sprint race. We didn’t expect such a difficult weekend.
“Alex did a good job in the race, especially considering his condition. Fabio had a good start but was not able to defend his position, and the long-lap penalty ended his chances to fight for points.
“Other than that, there’s not much to say. We need to really understand what is causing this poor performance.
“We have the Aragon GP coming up in two weeks’ time, but first we have a private Misano test next week. We are going to evaluate different components and, if the results are good, we are aiming to bring the parts straight to Aragon.”
Additional reporting by Guillaume Navarro