The Sachsenring was expected to be a match for the Yamahas, but that turned out to be far from the case as Quartararo’s Yamaha were weak all weekend in the long left section of the second sector.
Despite qualifying in the front row and a strong race pace in practice, Quartararo slipped to sixth place on the opening laps and struggled to overtake, which put him too far behind victory.
He crossed the finish line in third place, more than six seconds behind winner Marc Marquez, but increased his lead in the championship to 22 points over Pramacs Johann Zarco, who was eighth in the race.
“Yes, to be honest, this podium is gold,” said Quartararo. “We fought all weekend, this morning [in warm-up] I was behind Taka [Nakagami] I lost at least two tenths at Turn 7, and it was the same in the race.
“Let’s say I’ve struggled so much and I feel like this podium is really gold because I’m fighting to the end, giving it my all and I think it’s so important for the team because we have been going all weekend struggled over.
“This one was so tough for us. Now I’m looking forward to Assen, it’s one of my favorite tracks and the Yamaha will do fantastic.”
“This morning we saw one of our real weak spots in the second sector and I knew we were going to struggle.
“That happened in the race, we were extremely slow in turns 6/7.
“Then other parts of the track were okay, but in this corner, where we stay in the corner for a long time, we found it very difficult.
“With the team it was pretty clear this morning that we had good pace, but fighting for victory seems difficult.
“The goal was to finish ahead of the Ducatis and get on the podium.”
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Quartararo admits his damage-limiting result is “important” but says he won’t think that way every race, citing how Marquez approached his duel in Thailand in 2019 when his sixth MotoGP title was to be won.
“Yes, I think it’s important, but I think I have a really great example of that,” said Quartararo of the significance of his Germany result.
“I remember Marc in Thailand. He just had to go [Andrea] Dovizioso to win the championship, we fought to the last corner, to the last moment.
“I think to win the championship you have to win at the moment and create podium places. So of course I’m really looking forward to being here and expanding my lead.
“But I’ll go to Assen to fight for victory, not to see where Zarco is. And I think that’s the most important thing because we’re not even halfway through the championship.”
“Well, I think the right thing is to be in Assen and fight for what we want.”