The Yamaha rider was one of several who were forced to abandon fast laps this afternoon in the second practice session at Mugello due to the heavy traffic.
Quartararo, who finished fourth overall on Friday, admitted that this behavior is acceptable in a qualifying situation, but shouldn’t be the case in practice and especially on a track as fast as Mugello.
“Yes, I did a lap, but to be honest I don’t know how because a lot of drivers were in sector one, sector three and four,” said Quartararo when asked by Motorsport.com about the traffic problems he had in FP2.
“I overtook people, even if they turned right too late [of the track].
“But let’s say this is a fast lane, we’re going so fast and it’s not … let’s say it’s FP2, we can’t see a lot of people waiting in FP2.
“Well, I mean, it’s pointless for me to do that at the moment. But it is, and I hope it will change soon. But if we do that in qualifying, I can understand that, but not now.”
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Touring is something that has been cracked down on in the lower classes – especially Moto3 – in recent years, with harsher penalties like pit starts to drivers for “irresponsible driving”.
When asked if MotoGP should take a similar approach, Quartararo said: “For me, what do the guys in Moto3 and Moto2 do to start out of the pit lane because they stop? [on the racing line in sessions] or whatever, I mean why not [have those penalties] in MotoGP?
“We are all the same, we are racing in the world championship.
“Yes, it’s a different category, but we’re going faster than them, it’s more dangerous.
“So for me it should be the same as Moto2 and Moto3. Every time I do a lap, I don’t bother anyone.
“For me it can happen in qualifying, but not in the middle of FP2” [of the track] on the final laps.
“On the final laps you are really at the limit and you can find everyone right in the middle of it [of the track]. I think it’s not fair and dangerous. “