The Yamaha rider led current championship Francesco Bagnaia by 91 points heading into the Dutch MotoGP at Assen – the final race before the summer break – but has since seen his advantage become a 23-point deficit after failing to win a single race in that time frame , while individual mistakes have also played a huge role.
Quartararo’s slide started in Assen after crashing into Aleix Espargaro, before a second all at turn five saw him retire from the race.
The Frenchman, who then saw another non-score come in Aragon after unfortunately clipping the rear of Marc Marquez on lap-one, then arguably endured his worst performance of the season in Thailand after dropping from fourth to 17th on the opening lap – Quartararo finished in the same position.
Like in Aragon, Quartararo’s disastrous result at Buriram was not down to an individual mistake, but instead because of a wrong front tire pressure.
After gaining points back on Bagnaia at Motegi when the Ducati rider crashed out on the final lap, Quartararo then handed the advantage back to the Italian by making a similar mistake in Phillip Island.
His second ‘real’ error of the four disastrous races in Assen, Aragon, Buriram and Phillip Island, Quartararo lost the series lead for the first time since taking over as championship leader in Portimao.
But with all that said, are Yamaha more to blame for Quartararo’s recent collapse?
Yamaha has been behind its main rivals Ducati and Aprilia all season in terms of pure pace, which has often been highlighted by the performance of its other riders.
Quartararo is the only Yamaha rider to secure a top five, podium, pole or win this season, with Franco Morbidelli managing one top ten as his best result (Mandalika).
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On top of that Quartararo has arguably been better than his title winning season based on the consistency shown, doing so on a package that is often at the bottom of the top speed leaderboard, while also showing major deficiencies when following other bikes closely.
Had Quartararo not moved up from 12th to finish third in Sepang last time out, then Bagnaia would have been crowned world champion. It was another performance that showed why Quartararo is a world champion and one that gave him a chance to compete for the title in Valencia that many other riders wouldn’t have been able to achieve with the same machinery.