Fabio Quartararo’s strategy for success in the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring is a simple one: stick like glue to last week’s winner Andrea Dovizioso in the early stages of the race and see what happens.
Quartararo had his worst qualifying performance since the 2019 race at Brno on Saturday, matching his worst-ever MotoGP grid position by finishing the session in tenth – although fellow Frenchman Johann Zarco’s pit lane start penalty means Quartararo will ultimately line up in ninth.
Dovizioso failed to qualify on the front-row at the Red Bull Ring for the first time and will take the start from eighth alongside Quartararo, who says his plan for Sunday’s 28-lap battle is to make the most of the Ducati rider’s charge through the field.
“We have a great person to follow in the race because for sure he will come through to the front,” said Quartararo.
“I will try my best to overtake someone as soon as he does. First of all, we need to make a good start, which is something he is very good at, but after that my pace is good.
“There aren’t a lot of places where we can overtake with our bike so I’ll have to perform well in the opening laps and follow this guy!”
The good news for Quartararo – who currently leads the 2020 championship fight – is that he is optimistic now that Yamaha does have the pace to go with Dovizioso in the early stages of the race, after making a breakthrough in set-up during Saturday’s FP3 session.
After struggling significantly on the opening day at the Red Bull Ring, Quartararo says that there is now some promise showing.
“We were lacking in grip as you can see from our position, but the setting we came up with on the front forks and suspension was a bit better, and we’ve improved quite a lot there and with the electronics,” said Quartararo.
“We need to see now because our pace isn’t so bad but when you start P9 in this situation on a track like this you never know. Of course, I’ll bring my all and try to fight for a great result.”
Despite that welcome progress from free practice, there is still one area that remains an unknown ahead of the race.
After struggling in last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix with brake fade, Quartararo admitted that he was completely unable to battle for fear of not being able to stop his Yamaha M1.
This weekend, the M1 is equipped with Brembo’s new 2020-spec calipers – and teams are hoping that their improved cooling makes a difference at the toughest track on the calendar for the sole supplier of braking systems to the MotoGP grid.
Quartararo said that he would have to “wait and see in the race” if any difference had been made, with some troubling signs that the issue might not be completely resolved in Sunday morning’s warm-up session as the Petronas Yamaha rider made frequent errors on braking at the ultra-hard turn four.
