Polesitter Quartararo “can’t be optimistic” for British GP after sprint collapse

British Grand Prix poleman Fabio Quartararo believes he “cannot be optimistic” for Sunday’s race after top Ducati riders blasted past his Yamaha as he fell to seventh in the Saturday sprint.

Quartararo jumped into an early lead at Silverstone, but the first time the pack reached the Hangar Straight, Marc Marquez simply drove around him on the factory Ducati GP25.

But what troubled the Frenchman more was Marc’s brother Alex cruising past him just seconds later, aboard the less powerful GP24, as the pack exited Club and came up the home straight.

“On the first lap Alex Marquez overtook me before the finish line,” reported Quartararo, although the official lap chart suggested it was after they broke the timing beam. “I’m not stupid, I know how to ride – but [people] overtaking me in this situation, in this position, is frustrating.”

Earlier in the day, Quartararo overcame a substantial deficit in straightline speed to claim another sensational pole without even taking a tow from another rider.

The 26-year-old was clocked at 324.3km/h on that pole lap, the slowest top speed of any rider in a session in which the factory Ducatis both exceeded 334km/h. The power disadvantage was always going to be harder to manage in a race situation, and Quartararo was in no mood to sugarcoat things after that proved to be the case.

“Yes, there were some positives today, but if you check my top speed, I’m last by far.”

While the fast Silverstone track has clearly put Yamaha’s recent engine updates into perspective, power wasn’t the only thing souring Quartararo’s prospects for Sunday. He reported the familiar issue of the M1 overreacting to a drop in circuit grip between qualifying and the race.  

“The grip for us was really, really critical and I could not be fast. We had a lot of chatter. There was a big gap between the feeling of the morning and the performance of the afternoon.

“If there is a small difference on the grip, we feel it like 10 times more than the others. The pace we had in the sprint race compared to what we [did earlier] was super slow. We have to understand why we drop so much when conditions drop, and [why] we don’t generate any kind of grip.”

The 2021 world champion added that the lack of grip was exacerbating the top-end speed issue.

“We cannot use the power because clearly the mechanical grip we have is way too low. Over one lap it’s quite okay, but in the race, like I said… where Alex overtook me is a place where it’s clearly impossible to overtake.”

“Well, apparently it is possible,” he smiled immediately afterwards. “But I never overtook someone in my whole career like that. This is exactly where we struggle… we cannot really use the power that we have.”

Quartararo expected surface grip to deteriorate further on Sunday and viewed his chances as slim. Most riders are expected to start with the more durable medium rear tyre tomorrow rather than the grippier soft favoured today.

“Being honest with you, we cannot really be optimistic for tomorrow. After a Moto2 race, starting with the medium rear tyre, everything will be with less grip. It’s clearly a situation where it’s not great [for us]. But, like always, we’re going to do our best and try to enjoy the race.”