Fabio Quartararo has hinted at a major development for his Petronas SRT M1 coming soon, as Yamaha seeks to further develop the MotoGP championship leader’s bike following three tough rounds for him.
After the first day of practice for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, Quartararo cryptically referred to new parts in the pipeline that he’s hoping will be ready for the Catalan GP at Barcelona in two weeks’ time.
“They’re not new things, they are things that we had and we need to have back” :: Fabio Quartararo
“Honestly Yamaha is working so hard and we had a little bit of a positive for Misano and we know that we have two weeks to cross our fingers to have another great news for Barcelona,” he said.
“I know that they are working hard and of course I can’t say that I am fully confident because we have not the full package that I want, but of course it’s so important to believe in them, also to put a little bit of pressure – but no more than pressure, it’s that we need to have this great news for Barcelona.
“They’re not new things, they are things that we had and we need to have back.
“I will not say [what they are], of course I can’t say, it’s too confidential!
“But of course we need to have this news because it will be important for us.”
It’s believed that Quartararo is referring to Yamaha’s ride height adjustment system, a device first trialled by Ducati halfway through the 2019 season and rolled out to its whole cohort ahead of the start of the 2020 campaign.
A development of the holeshot system (pictured above) originally sported by Ducati during 2018, the system is believed to allow riders to adjust the height of the bike on the exit of every corner.
It helps in the age-old set-up battle of whether to build a higher bike that turns better versus a lower machine that’s better in acceleration and top speed, and effectively allows one machine to do both.
Quartararo and his fellow Yamaha riders first reportedly tested out the system earlier in this season, but it’s believed that they didn’t race it as it underwent further development.
However, with the pressure now on as Quartararo battles to maintain his position as championship leader, it seems that it’s going to reappear in a more finalised form.
Quartararo had a solid start to proceedings this weekend even without the added benefit, topping the first day of practice at Misano.
It was a welcome relief after tough times at the Red Bull Ring in particular allowed Andrea Dovizioso to close down his lead in the title race to only three points.
And Quartararo was happy to get back into the swing of things at a circuit where he was only beaten by absent world champion Marc Marquez at the final corner 12 months ago.
“It feels really good after the difficult races in Austria,” said Quartararo.
“We’ve made a big improvement here; of course the track helps, as it is better for us.
“Those bad races have helped us learn to adapt quickly and helped us to become stronger.
“The two sessions today have been good, our pace in FP2 was great and the settings we have changed have really helped.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow because I still feel like there is something more we can improve with the one lap pace.”
