until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Petronas Yamaha racer Fabio Quartararo has claimed that the new 2020 Yamaha M1 MotoGP machine is a lot more difficult to ride than last year’s bike, despite he and other riders hailing the vast improvement made by the manufacturer in the past year.
Speaking after the first day of practice for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, where he finished the day a distant 15th on combined times, Quartararo acknowledged that Friday was one of the toughest days so far of his short MotoGP career.
“In the morning, we didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, on braking, cornering, power delivery,” he said.
“It was one of the hardest practices of my GP career. The bike wasn’t so good.
“It’s not like 2019 when people said that the Yamaha was an easy bike to ride.
“For me, the Yamaha this year is much more difficult to ride than last year.
“Everyone will need to change their opinion that it’s an easy and familiar bike for a rookie.”
However, veteran Yamaha racer Valentino Rossi had his own take on Quartararo’s complaints after the session.
Having witnessed the same in the past with Johann Zarco, who enjoyed a stellar rookie season on a satellite Tech3 Yamaha but struggled more with a new factory-spec bike, Rossi hinted that perhaps Quartararo was learning a tough lesson about the challenges of development.
“I don’t feel a lot of difference, but the 2020 bike is a lot younger and maybe we need some more time and some more kilometres to fix the settings properly,” said Rossi.
“My feelings and my problems with the bike so far are very similar to last year, with the grip and the temperature of the rear tyre.”
Quartararo conceded as much himself, admitting: “For me the bike is totally new and I don’t have a lot of experience in MotoGP.
“It’s very easy to lose your way and this morning we weren’t so close but a small change can help you a lot.”
And despite struggling in the morning, Quartararo came out of the day smiling.
Having finished second to team-mate Franco Morbidelli in the high-temperature afternoon session, he believes Petronas SRT has progressed with its understanding of the bike ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
“We made quite a big change and it was really good – we found good pace, which is important because the race is at the same time as the afternoon’s session,” said Quartararo.
“I’m happy with how the day ended and really looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”
