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Yamaha’s Struggles Continue as Quartararo Voices Frustration
Fabio Quartararo has expressed growing concern regarding Yamaha’s declining performance in the MotoGP circuit, noting that conditions seem to be deteriorating despite ongoing efforts to regain competitiveness.
During the recent Austrian Grand Prix, the 2021 champion struggled to secure an 18th-place finish, lagging almost 44 seconds behind the lead racer, Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati. Quartararo received a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits, which further impacted his standings as he was already outside the points in 16th position when penalized.
His teammate, Alex Rins, marked his return to the series after an injury layoff, but only managed to finish 16th, finishing approximately 37 seconds behind Bagnaia. This race marked a significant downturn for Yamaha, as it was the first time since the Dutch Grand Prix in 2022 that the manufacturer failed to secure any points.
Visibly upset with the outcome, Quartararo left the circuit promptly after the race to head to Misano for a private testing session, thereby missing most of his media engagements. In an interview with Canal+, he lamented, “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.” He further elaborated on his struggles during the race, stating, “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, along with Rins and the rest of the Yamaha squad, will participate in a private test in Misano over the upcoming days. This session will also include teams from Honda and KTM.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Both Quartararo and Rins will benefit from testing their M1 bikes as part of the concessions given to Yamaha following a winless 2024 season. The Iwata-based team is optimistic that this two-day test will shed light on the issues plaguing their performance at Spielberg, where their results lagged not only behind their European competitors but also Honda.
“It was a race day to forget,” remarked Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha’s team director. “It’s been a mirror image of the sprint race. We didn’t expect such a difficult weekend.” He noted that Rins performed admirably in light of his recent injury, while Quartararo, despite a strong start, could not sustain his position and the penalty curtailed any chance of scoring points.
Meregalli added, “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 aim to bring the parts straight to Aragon.”
Additional reporting by Guillaume Navarro
Source
www.motorsport.com