Quartararo laments “unrideable” Yamaha bike in Aragon MotoGP sprint

Fabio Quartararo was Yamaha’s most vocal rider about electronics gremlins at the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix, and his frustration was clear to see out on track.

The Yamaha engineers tried to find some improvements on Friday night, and after managing to get into Q2 following the Q1 qualifying session, Quartararo put his bike ninth on the grid. This proved to be a false dawn however, and the 2021 MotoGP champion finished out of the points in 11th.

The Frenchman outlined what the issues were with his bike: “I had a lot of chatter from the rear on lap three, and unfortunately I could not push, and every lap was worse and worse.

“To be honest I don’t know I managed to make 1m47.9s on the last lap because the bike was unrideable for this thing on the rear, and I was expecting less feeling on the bike during the sprint so I think tomorrow with the medium rear can be a good one.”

Quartararo was firm with his assessment of Yamaha’s bike after being asked about whether an improvement had been found for Saturday.

“Of course, well it was dangerous yesterday, to ride the bike as we had it,” said Quartararo.

“Today is much better, we’re working in a good way and the work we do here is really important because at some tracks already happened a little bit the kind of style that happens here. So like at Misano, in Australia, it happens, so it’s good sometimes [to have these problems]. Even though it’s a much more difficult weekend, we always learn.”

The Frenchman went on to describe the impact of electronics and just how much it affects his riding style.

“This year I feel how important it is, because this year I have changed completely my riding style by the throttle, the settings,” explained Quartararo, “and as soon as you change something you can really feel the difference – and I never expected to have that much gain by the electronics.”

Even though the sprint was a race to forget for the factory rider, he’s still confident the Japanese manufacturer can salvage some points from the grand prix on Sunday.

“I think realistically tomorrow we can finish between seventh and 10th,” said the former champion. “Of course, I want better, but you know I won’t say that we want to fight for the podium because we are off the pace – but between seventh and 10th I think we can be pretty happy.”