The Frenchman complained at a wet Styrian GP training session last Friday that the conditions were a “nightmare” for him, as he lacked self-confidence on his M1.
A sudden thunderstorm left the Red Bull Ring soaked for the start of FP2 on Friday, although the track would dry out at the end of the session.
Yamaha riders struggle in these dry conditions, with Quartararo admitting that he now needs to try something “really different” to improve his form in the conditions while his problems persist.
“Yeah, today wasn’t the best because my feeling was great in the morning in the dry conditions,” said Quartararo when asked by Motorsport.com if he felt better in wet conditions this week.
“But I have no confidence when it is wet. I mean, we have a problem in the wet that we can’t fix, and we’re going to try something completely different to see if there is any improvement.
“But I don’t feel good in the wet, I could even finish ninth in the end, but the feeling isn’t that great. So I’ll try to do my best to improve this feeling. “
When asked by Motorsport.com if he could explain exactly where the problem is in wet conditions, Quartararo added: “Yes, it is the feeling from behind that I have no grip in the corner, I have no confidence, to reach the cornering speed.
“We know that cornering speed is so important in wet conditions. From straight to oblique angles, it’s a terrible feeling.
“We have to improve that in order to be even faster in the wet.”
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Quartararo parked his bike at Turn 9 towards the end of FP1 on Friday morning but said he had no real problem with his Yamaha – a missed gear change made him feel weird on the engine which forced him to stop as a precaution.
“Yes, I was there and when I changed direction from seven to eight I shifted two gears and one gear didn’t work,” he explained.
“I stayed in third gear and in this corner the third gear is not used and the performance of the electronics was poor.
“So I felt a drop in performance and stopped because I had the feeling that the engine was getting lower and lower.
“I had nothing on the dashboard, I was feeling something strange, so I stopped. I looked at everything and it was fine so I decided to go back.
“But we didn’t have an engine problem or gearbox, I only pressed the button once [gear] Leaver not hard enough and it hasn’t changed. “