Fabio Quartararo: Yamaha Doesn’t Have Big Problems, Small But Many!

RiderTua.com – At the Portuguese GP, Fabio Quartararo achieved quite positive results by going straight into Q2, finishing 9th in the sprint, and finishing 7th in the main race. However, in reality the Yamaha rider identified many small problems. A small problem, if there are hundreds of them, becomes a big problem (for example)..

“Actually, I don’t think we have one big problem, but a lot of small problems. It’s a little bit of everything. Rear grip, electronics, aerodynamics, a combination of things. We collected good data today and further tests will help us further. Of course “The problem is also because we only have two bikes on the track,” said the 2021 MotoGP World Champion.

Fabio Quartararo: Yamaha Doesn’t Have Big Problems, Small But Many!

These problems were clearly visible in training sessions. But Yamaha was able to cope with the challenging Portimao track better than in the tests and races of recent weeks and months. A clear indication of this is that the two M1 riders went straight into Q2. This makes Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins very optimistic, both in terms of time attack and racing.

After two races on the Algarve circuit, a somewhat distorted picture of the real situation emerges, as the results list only provides partial information about the competitiveness of the two Yamaha bikes alone. In Saturday’s sprint, Quartararo showed excellent speed but only achieved modest results. Even though the gap was close to winner Maverick Vinales (7.5 seconds), the rider from Nice France ended up in 9th position.

A 7th-place finish in Sunday’s main race showed improvement. With 20 seconds behind winner Jorge Martin, the opposite happened. Like many other riders, Quartararo also benefited from 3 crashes at the front just before the finish.

Quartararo was clearly not too happy with the way the race went, insisting that 7th sounded better than it actually was. Honestly he expected more. Things went very well in the sprint and he saw himself getting closer to the riders in front. That’s why he wasn’t too happy about the big gap. However, El Diablo did not see any significant weaknesses.

When asked about the possibility of a second Yamaha team for the 2025 season, he confirmed, “It’s true we are talking about a second team. But I can’t say anything more about that at the moment.”

While the trucks from the European manufacturers have left the Algarve paddock, Yamaha used Monday after the race for further tests. Additional tests may be conducted through broad privilege concession regulations. But Honda, which also met the requirements, did not take part in the test because it had previously held a test in Jerez.