The Red Bull Ring is arguably Yamaha’s weakest circuit on the entire calendar, with its long straights and tough acceleration zones at odds with the M1’s lack of performance.
After a catastrophic one-two victory in Austria in 2020, Quartararo was strong throughout the Styrian GP last weekend, finished third in qualifying (after a record pole lap was canceled because the track limits were exceeded) and came third in the race.
Quartararo struggled with Ducati’s Jack Miller in the first half of the race and came under pressure in the final stages, but a fall of the Australian gave the Yamaha rider a comfortable run onto the podium to extend his championship lead to 40 points.
“Yeah, it was tough because when I was behind Jack he made a little mistake at Turn 1 and it was the only way for me to stay behind him on the straight,” said Quartararo.
“And I knew I was struggling a lot at Turn 3 all weekend, but today and yesterday I was pretty strong and in the first race [before the red flag] I could overtake Marc [Marquez].
“Then I passed Jack, we had a nice little fight.
“We’re losing a little compared to the two front runners, but I couldn’t do better.
“I couldn’t stay with Joan, I couldn’t stay with Jorge.
“We are very happy about this podium and know in which area we still have to work. So pretty happy and I think we did a great job. “
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Looking to the Austrian GP in the same location this weekend, Quartararo says Yamaha needs to improve its rear tire performance after struggling last Sunday.
“In the first race behind Jorge [Martin] I was at the back and I had so much speed in the last corner.
“I looked at him and thought, ‘Ah, it saves a lot of tires,’ and as soon as he picked up the bike, he pulled a lot.
“That is why we will try to find the best possible way. We know we don’t have the same potential as Ducati when it comes to acceleration, but I think a podium here was perfect for us.
“So I think our pace is always very good in practice, but when the race comes we feel different with the rear tire.
“I think it will be important to know that next week.”
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Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales retired in the pit lane after an electronics problem resulted in “pit lane” messages being displayed on his dashboard.
After a strong start to the race before it was interrupted due to the violent incident between Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo Savadori, Vinales stalled on the grid at the second start and had to start from the pit lane.
“Well, to be honest, I’m pretty happy in a way because the first race, the first five laps were fantastic, honestly, I was pretty happy,” he said.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve jumped two lines. So it was good.
“I’m happy for that. But then we go to the pits, they change the tires, the clutch and everything was different.
“The bike stopped, I don’t know why. I just released the clutch, the bike stopped, it’s very strange. I did exactly the same as in the first race. “