MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo says his seventh place in qualifying for the Algarve Grand Prix was the result of a “weird feeling” he got from a setup change that didn’t work.
The Yamaha rider was in great shape throughout the Portugal weekend, leading the race from Friday and missing first place in FP3 against Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia by just 0.001 seconds.
Both riders were expected to fight hard for pole on Saturday afternoon, but while Bagnaia finished first in Q2, Quartararo battled for seventh on his Yamaha.
Explaining what went wrong, Quartararo says that a setup change that worked normally didn’t work and meant he “had a lot of trouble” putting a lap together in Q2.
“We have made a list [change] sometimes it actually works and it actually didn’t work, ”he explained.
“I struggled a lot with our strength, in the last sector, I couldn’t turn and the grip wasn’t as I expected.
“Well, I couldn’t… couldn’t make a free lap either, but like I was struggling a lot.
“One sector was good, another bad, so I wasn’t consistent and I didn’t feel that good in FP4 either.
“It looks like the medium is way better and we’ll try tomorrow morning because it was a really weird feeling I had in qualifying and in FP4 so we have to change something.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
A number of riders this weekend have complained that the Algarve track lacks grip for a not very old surface, while also noting that the track has become bumpier.
When asked whether his bad feeling on the bike was due to the track conditions, Quartararo added: “I had a great feeling all weekend and then in qualifying the bike bumped and shook a lot.
“And that was strange from the start because I was strong all weekend and we had some problems with the hard tire in FP4.
“But it’s a pretty weird feeling in qualifying, so let’s see what we can improve tomorrow. For me, it’s not about the bumps. “