On Saturday, at the end of the intermediate day of the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix in Assen, after listening to Fabio Quartararo we chose “a new wind seems to be blowing at Yamaha” to sum up the Frenchman’s debriefing, but this Sunday, at the end of the Grand Prix, it seems to have died down somewhat.
Qualified 13th, The devil had then benefited from many factors to finish 7th in the Sprint, excellent start, very good first all and declassification of Jorge
Martin Understood. But even satisfied with this result, the Yamaha rider felt that the long race would be more difficult, the benefits brought by his new engine not being felt on the Dutch track, and the lack of additional grip provided by the soft rear tire. always being relevant…
He was right, and it was with both disappointment and frustration that he provided some explanations to the press, after crossing the finish line in 12th position, 24 seconds behind the winner.
Francesco Bagnaia !
“We finished 24 seconds behind him, which means we gained six seconds. So it’s clear that we’re still a long way off, and it seems that with the new tyre our rivals have managed to improve even more. We need to try to understand why we have these grip problems in all conditions. That’s why I started with the soft: the grip was horrible, and we saw from the start that it clearly wasn’t working. For the others, it’s working really well, eh. Francesco Bagnaia who does 31.8, that’s what makes the difference.”
It was also the lack of grip that led to his teammate’s fall Alex Rins, and which poses a problem in all areas. And when asked what the difficulties were…
” All ! That is to say in the braking zone, passing speed, acceleration, wheelie, grip. A little bit of everything. So I think that where we need to improve is a little bit everywhere.”
Why 7th Saturday and 12th Sunday?
“I think that in the sprint, over a few laps, we can really push to the maximum. I don’t know why the grip today, perhaps after the Moto2 race, was much more complicated. We didn’t have the grip, so the start wasn’t the same. So there were several circumstances, but here we are, we’re going to say that our position in terms of pace was 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, so I think we couldn’t hope for much better either.
The Frenchman is all the more frustrated as the next Grand Prix takes place on the Sachsenring, which turns in all directions, where the Yamaha is suffering…
“It’s not going to be good at all, but we’re going to have to try to resist, try to do the best we can. But it’s going to be a race, and even more so a weekend, that’s very, very complicated.”
The hopes of the number 20 now lie in Austria, where the qualities of the new engine evolution should be more apparent, as in Misano.
Cherry on the cake, “After Austria, we have 2 days of testing in Misano.”
Being patient therefore seems to be an appropriate expression in the Monster Energy Yamaha team…
Dutch Grand Prix results MotoGP
2024 at TT Assen:
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
Assen Fabio Quartararo
: “braking zone, passing speed, acceleration, wheelie, grip”, everything was difficult this Sunday…){kind=link}