Fabio Quartararo has praised title leader Francesco Bagnaia for closing the 91-point gap between them despite lamenting his Yamaha’s lack of pace leaving him fighting with one hand behind his back.
Quartararo starts the title-deciding Valencia Grand Prix this weekend with a 23-point deficit and an extremely narrow path to a second world championship.
The Frenchman has been vociferous about Yamaha’s shortcomings this year despite a bright start to the season that propelled him to an early points lead.
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But the bike’s lack of performance was harshly punished in the second half of the year once the factory Ducati team mastered its GP22, allowing Bagnaia to make up for a crash-prone start to the season and overturn his massive points deficit at the Australian Grand Prix.
Rubbing salt into Quartararo’s wounds was that the entire Ducati stable has capitalised on the M1’s stagnant development and has claimed around two-thirds of all podium places since the mid-year break.
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Some riders have equated the Bologna’s marque’s eight-strong armada of competitive bikes as akin to an unfair advantage for Bagnaia given how many points-paying places are liable to be occupied by a Ducati machine.
But Quartararo refused to put Bagnaia’s 91-point recovery down to the bike, pointing out that the Italian was always foremost among the Ducati stable of riders.
“I think quite early in the season, even when Aleix (Espargaró) was much closer to me, you could see clearly [Bagnaia] was going super fast, and I knew he was the one who would really fight for the championship,” he said.
“We always talk about the Ducati, that they are strong, but he’s always the one who is on top. Of course he’s a top rider.
“In general the speed that Pecco carried all year, especially the second half — the speed looks like it’s super easy for him. Even in qualifying, in the race, he has this potential that you look at on TV and it looks like he’s much more slow, but he’s super fast.”
Quartararo also admitted to not making the most of the start of the year, when the title was wide open, and to making some crucial mistakes late in the season, but the reigning champion said the root of his problems was a bike that reached its ceiling too early.
“The start of the season was not that good,” he said. “I was complaining a lot because after a big amount of time [trying] to find something on the engine we didn’t find anything. I wasn’t totally focused like I needed to be.
“Then I had a really great first half of the season. The second [half] I think we stayed at the same level and many riders and manufacturers made a big step forward … then we made some mistakes.
“It’s true that actually I always want to push so hard that it makes me do some mistakes. I’m not really in a position that I want, and also we had tough moments with the bike at some circuits that at the end I was not enjoying on the bike.”
His two Sunday crashes at the Australian Grand Prix while desperately attempting to outperform his machinery decisively turned the tide on his hopes for a back-to-back title. Being unable to beat Bagnaia last time out in Malaysia then left him with an almost hopeless championship equation for this weekend.
He must win the Valencia Grand Prix with Bagnaia no higher than 15th to overturn his deficit. Anything less than victory and anything more than 15th from his rival will send the trophy to Bologna.
It’s an almost hopeless task and a far cry from the relative comfort of his mid-year title lead, but the Frenchman said he wouldn’t give up hope until the chequered flag fell.
“The goal is clear,” he said. “Clearly I have nothing to lose, so of course I will do my best to do it, fighting for the win, so all in.
“Of course it’s not the best situation to fight of the championship, but it’s a good situation to not care at all. Whatever happens, it will have been tough season but a good one.
“I think in general you learn when you have a tough season. It wasn’t the best, but it’s not so bad — we’re still fighting for the championship in the last race
“A lot of experience taken from this season that will be really great of the future.”
