Last year’s two Red Bull Ring races (restarted) were some of the toughest of the season for Yamaha in terms of points scored.
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Valentino Rossi was the best of the M1 in both races when a fifth place in the first race was followed by a ninth place the following weekend after the previous serious accident with Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco when teammate Maverick Vinales suffered a brake failure.
The current World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (at Petronas Yamaha at the time) only managed eighth and 13th place in these shortened races. But the Frenchman, who had to deal with braking problems during the entire event, is confident that he will come next Weekend will perform much better.
“To be honest, Austria is a track that was a disaster for us last year, but I think more because of all the problems we had with braking last year,” said Quartararo, who was 34 points clear after his win Title has four of his first nine races as a factory rider for Monster Yamaha.
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“For me, the bike has improved a lot in terms of braking. Our holeshot device also works better. The electronics … So I think Austria is not a bad track for us.
“I think it will be fine. Of course we lack top speed, but in 2019 I was able to take the podium and Maverick and Vale finished 4th and 5th. So it’s not a bad track for Yamaha, just not the easiest one.”
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The full throttle and hard braking zones that characterize the Austrian circuit traditionally play into the hands of Ducati, which won five races in a row from 2016 to 2020.
Local manufacturer KTM ended that run when Miguel Oliveira won a thrilling showdown on the final corner in the second of last season’s sprint races and Quartararo believes that labeling tracks as clearly appropriate for a particular manufacturer is now a thing of the past.
“I forget a bit about Yamaha circuits, Ducati circuits … Qatar and Mugello were ‘Ducati circuits’ but in Qatar two Yamahas won and in Mugello I was able to fight for the win [and win],” he said.
“I think there is not so much the Ducati circuit, the Yamaha circuit, the Suzuki circuit … I think everything is getting closer and I think it’s nice.”
Ducati riders Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia are currently Quartararo’s closest rivals in the world championship.