Quartararo joined the leading group consisting of Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia and Joan Mir, who pitted their wet motorbikes at the end of the 25th of 28th laps when it was raining on the Red Bull Ring.
Quartararo had been fighting for the podium up to this point and was still under pressure when it rained on lap 22 while he was still on slicks.
But as conditions deteriorated, Quartararo admitted his thoughts turned to his championship hopes for the first time in 2021 and decided to play it safe by pitting as a number of drivers – including race winner Brad Binder on the KTM – rely on sticking to slicks.
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Quartararo was eliminated directly from the podium after switching to wet tires, but seventh place on the checkered flag allowed him to extend his championship lead to 47 points after two races on Yamaha’s weakest track.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“It’s the first time this year that I’ve thought a bit about the championship, I want to be honest,” said Quartararo when asked by Motorsport.com how he imagined the pit stop. “I have a lot of risk and didn’t want to make a stupid crash.
“I almost had one at Turn 1 when Marc fell, you can see on TV that I almost touched him. Yes, it was the moment to think about the championship. We have arrived [to Austria] with a 34 point lead on this route, we leave with 47.
“We’re taking advantage and I don’t think we expected that. I think our point in the championship is pretty good now, so I want to keep going. “
Quartararo admits that the change to wet tires – after fighting in both races in Austria in wet conditions – “took away his confidence”, but stressed that it was important that he win a dry race at the Red Bull Ring could.
“The dry conditions made me feel so good and I just waited and I think we saved so much on tires that we could do a lot better by the end of the race,” he added. “Anyway, our speed was there, we were here to fight for victory in dry conditions and I think that was so important.
“Well, I think these are going to be important races, I think there are seven or eight races left, so I’ll go race by race and the next one [Silverstone] is one of my favorites. “