At the start of the 2020 MotoGP season, everything was rosy for Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo.
He dominated the opening two races of the delayed season at Jerez, winning easily and looking like he meant business in a world championship fight without an absent Marc Marquez.
However, before too long it all turned sour on the 21-year-old.
He made it into the top 10 for the remainder of the season (aside from another dominant victory at Barcelona), and while he ended up tied for most wins with team-mate Franco Morbidelli he was a distant eighth in the championship, 44 points from ultra-consistent title winner Joan Mir.
“When the bike wasn’t going so great, I was always thinking negative things, and I’ve totally changed that” :: Fabio Quartararo
In that context, it would be entirely possible to see his excellent start to the 2021 season as something of a red flag.
Having taken fifth in the season-opener – his debut for the works Yamaha team as replacement for Valentino Rossi – Quartararo followed with wins in both the second Qatar race and Portugal, and now leads the championship by 15 points after three rounds.
But things aren’t quite the same with Quartararo this year, and not just because he’s now a year older or because he’s moved from Petronas to the factory team.
Instead, he’s talking in a very different way about what 2021 is going to bring for him, after spending much of the winter working not to be fitter physically but mentally.
“Yamaha has made a big step compared to last year but I feel mentally stronger,” he admitted after a textbook victory at Portimao last weekend.
“Last year, after Aragon, when I more or less lost the opportunity to fight for the championship, I wasn’t even frustrated that we lost the moment. I’ve learned a lot from that.
“When the bike wasn’t going so great, I was always thinking negative things, and I’ve totally changed that. Always thinking positive is great.
“During the pre-season I worked well with my psychologist, and I feel like all the exercises he gave to me were good. They keep me calm.”
That was something he demonstrated in the Portuguese Grand Prix by not only keeping his head while under pressure but also managing to force an error from main threat Alex Rins.
Suzuki rider Rins looked like the only man capable of sticking with Quartararo – but the points leader was able to dial up the pace again and again until Rins crashed out.
And while that wasn’t entirely Quartararo’s strategy, he proved post-race that he’s thinking more cleverly during races by acknowledging that Rins’ potential for errors was something that he was conscious of.
“I arrived here knowing the bike was working well,” said Quartararo, “and even though there were a few small things not working great, I was thinking about what was working.
“To set the pace I was able to set in the race wasn’t easy, but I was focused, and 70% of that comes from your mind.
“I was pushing so hard, and I was expecting him to make a mistake. I pushed so hard for I don’t know how many laps, while he was behind at 0.2s. It was our goal to escape, and finally he made a mistake.
“When I won those two races last year I thought ‘wow, I’m first in the championship’. I’d never been in that position, ever. It was strange for me” :: Fabio Quartararo
“I don’t feel pressure when I’ve got someone behind me – I’m just focusing on trying to pull away. Maybe there’s pressure in the last laps, but I was just enjoying myself and still pulling away.
“I looked at my lap times every lap, seeing how far away he was – but it was more motivation than pressure!”
But it’s not the lessons he’s learned about racecraft that are proving most valuable to Quartararo now he’s leading the championship fight for the first time since Aragon last October.
“I feel totally different,” he said when asked by The Race to compare his situation now to his early-2020 dominance.
“When you win the first two races in a row with a big advantage of four seconds, you feel like it’s going to start and keep going – but the others are working so hard to go over you and take that place.
“So right now I’m only thinking race by race.
“When I won those two races in Jerez last year I thought ‘wow, I’m first in the championship’.
“I’d never been in that position, ever. It was strange for me.
“That’s why right now I’m not even looking at the championship, just thinking about the races and mentally going well.”
