The factory Monster Energy Yamaha duo of Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo have discussed how they can work together rather than against each other in the Qatar Grand Prix, as they plot how to best manage the threat to success posed by the ultra-fast Ducatis at the Losail circuit.
The pair will start alongside each other on the front row in tonight’s race, but with factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia on pole position and with both Jack Miller and Johann Zarco behind them on the second row, it’s going to be imperative to success to make a clean getaway.
With that in mind, the factory duo have been discussing how to best neutralise the Italian marque and their 15mph speed advantage over Yamaha – and Quartararo says that their best chance might be to simply be careful not to trip each other up.
“Maverick and I talked in the test,” Quartararo said. “When we had occasion to talk.
“We need to be clever about it, and to be careful not to lose time fighting each other.
“If we can make our overtakes in the slipstream, not cost each other time in the middle of the corners, that would be a great strategy. It will be difficult, but from my point of view it would be a great idea.”
“In the test we spoke about what we would do if we started first and second,” Vinales corroborated.
“Try to not make block passes, not to lose too much, to try and help each other to escape. It might not be possible because the Ducatis are very fast, so we’re going to play other cards and see what happens.”
Regardless of how the pair are able to work together, the expectation remains that the race will be decided in the opening laps.
Yamaha grabbed all but one of its seven victories in 2020 from a breakaway and not a sprint finish, and with the speed advantage that Ducati enjoys on Losail’s long straights, it seems that’ll be again how the 22-lap race will be decided.
“My goal is to make some great first laps and a great start,” said Vinales.
“We need to be aggressive from the beginning. I’ve been overtaking during the test and we’re quite good, so the first five laps will be so important.
“Hopefully from P3 I won’t be in quite a low position, but from the first lap to lap five will be aggressive. We need to be the people who try and overtake, who try to not lose position.”
His team-mate has a slightly different outlook, though, believing that should the start not come off perfectly, there remains a chance to achieve something through careful tyre management on Losail’s abrasive surface.
“The race is very long, and you can look at the strategy in two ways,” Quartararo said.
“You can push in the last 10 laps or the first 10. The last 10 are always critical for the tyres, so we need to be smart on how we do our race.
“There’s only two or three points where we can overtake and we need grip, so we need to understand how to manage it and how to overtake without burning the tyres.
“Which plan we choose depends on how the start goes, and after that we need to be smart.”
