The 18-point title of Fabio Quartararo has come down to two points after having the worst result in his MotoGP career in the Thailand Grand Prix. Is it because of the high tires? Let’s find out.
Fabio Quartararo’s mishandling of Turn 1 has decreased its position from fourth to 17th on the opening lap of the rain-delayed race. However, despite being a runner-up in the Indonesian Grand Prix earlier this season, he dropped by nine laps even further to the 19th position.
His only progress was during Remy Gardner’s accident and re-pass on RNF’s Cal Crutchlow during the remaining 26 laps. He finished the race in 17th place, 34-seconds behind KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.
Compared, he was just 2.2 seconds behind Oliveria in the Mandalika rain.
After the race, Quartararo walked straight out of the Yamaha pits and canceled all his media interactions. However, in the Yamaha press release, he said that the time of rain was worst. They did not get any wet track time before the racing began. This made the first lap of the race tricky. Jack pushed him wide back in Turn One, and from there, it only got worse. While trying to have a good feeling, he got a moment in Turn four where his visibility got terrible. He apologized to his Thai fans and hoped to do a better race in front of them.
He further said that the team knows why they struggle a lot. However, they will investigate more to improve in the future. They will try to come back strong in Australia.
According to Meregalli, Race Was a Gamble, Championship Starts At Zero Now
Monster Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli said that they did not have any words with Fabio after the race. He was disappointed and frustrated and went into his office to cool down.
They also cannot judge before speaking to him. They have to first talk to him, see the data and then see if it matches. According to him, the race was a gamble for everyone. Because they performed all the sessions in the dry and then moved to the wet. However, the same happened in Indonesia, and they performed very well, opposite to what they did in this race.
There is no apparent reason. It can be a low level of grip because they perform well on grippy tarmac. However, it becomes a problem when it does not bite. He further said that the track was against them that day. Lap by lap, it became dryer, making the mixed condition more arduous for them. They need to understand why we win in Indonesia, even in the rainy season, which is the opposite in Thailand.
What Went Wrong For Yamaha?
Crutchlow, Yamaha’s test rider, is sure that high front-tire pressure is the problem for both him and Quarataro’s Buriram woes. He said that he expected a lot, but that day was not Yamaha’s day. Neither did they lean the bike nor could they go around the corner. It is because of too much heat and pressure in the front tire.
On the first lap of the race, the tire pressure was high already. He was grouped with Fabio and saw that he could not turn his bike and lean the bike over since the front wheel was not allowing the corner. He raced in high pressure too. Otherwise, they would have been in the 19th position that day.
He was aware that his bike would not be great in the warm-up lap. He has to push with the rear tire due to so much pressure in the front tire. It was a lousy weekend for Yamaha because, according to him, they will have good races from our pace if it is a dry race.
Lastly, he concluded that the bike was inappropriate for the wet track. Fabio makes a difference while riding in the dry. However, in the rain, their bike exaggerated even more. This is where the team needs to make improvements.
When asked who makes a call on the tire pressures, Crutchlow replied that the wrong person. He also said it is for the riders to fix it as he knows the difference between what he used to run and what he runs now.
Since Quartarao joined the MotoGP class, the only time he finished lower than 17th was 18th at the dry 2020 Aragon round because of high tire pressure.