He missed pole position by a fraction and although he tried to hide it, it bothers Quartararo a little. The most important thing, however, is to know that he was the benchmark for pace today and will therefore be the man to beat.
“In the last lap of qualifying I pushed a little too much and made a small mistake that made me lose a bit – Fabio justified himself as if it were necessary – In general, I never had a good feeling with the soft tire that weekend, unlike the medium and hard tires. I have good pace, I feel good and the choice between the two mixes depends on how the warm up goes, even if I could do both races.
The Yamahas clearly seem to be the favorites for tomorrow …
“Maverick and I have good pace, but that also happened to me in Barcelona and in the end it didn’t go as planned. On this occasion, I didn’t have good pace, but came close to winning, so it’s not as important a step as feeling on the bike. Anything can happen in a race ”.
Don’t you think it could be a fight between you and Vinales?
“With Maverick, I have to be smart in the first rounds, if we have to play something, I think it’s great to be smart in the first round and see at the end. But it will depend on it. I feel great fighting for victory. It’s not that I have to be careful because my main competitors are behind me. For me it’s the beginning of the championship, we’re not even in the middle of it. So if I have a chance to fight for victory, I’ll take it. When I’m too pushed to the limit, I’m not stupid, so I don’t make a mistake – or I try not to make a mistake. So it will depend on the situation, but right now I feel like I can fight for it. “
But in view of the two races at the Red Bull Ring, isn’t it important to extend your lead?
“To be honest, Austria is a track that was a disaster for us last year, but I think more because we knew all the problems we had last year. But for me the bike has changed in the braking area and our holeshot Device much improved. ” works better. We don’t have a problem with electrics yet, so I think Austria is not a bad track for us. Of course we lack top speed, but in 2019 I was fighting for the podium and if I’m not wrong Maverick and Valentino finished fourth and fifth. It’s not a bad track for us, just difficult, not the best. I will do my best here. Of course I want to increase my deficit in the championship, but I don’t think that’s the way to get to the championship right now. So I just want to enjoy tomorrow, it’s a fantastic track and enjoy the 26 laps. “
Do you really think that tomorrow you will have other rivals besides Vinales?
“If you look at the past, Bagnaia is good at tire management and he will be there, as will the Suzukis and Oliveira, hard to say who will be the main opponent.”
Vinales says it’s impossible to ride the Yamaha with little grip, do you agree?
“It’s true that we sometimes have bad grip, but something strange happened at the Sachsenring because the bike turned better than the tires fell off. I haven’t had any major problems this year and to be honest I only look at Maverick’s data when he’s faster than me to improve. “