Fabio Quartarao’s Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix was ‘frustrating’ as he failed to overtake his Yamaha after finishing eighth.
Coming to Japan, Quartararo led the standings by ten points and left a slightly heavier margin.
After the mapping issue of the warm-up lap, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro was only in the 16th position, and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia crashed while overtaking Quartararo. This resulted in Quartarao being in the 18th position even after struggling to advance to eighth in the race.
Although he is happy to have minor damage on the standings, he felt he could be in the top five if he overtook more effortlessly.
He said that taking into consideration the circumstances and what had happened, it is better to take points than to lose them. However, even if it is good in one way, it is frustrating in another because, according to him, his potential is not to fight with Jack as he was on another level that day. However, he can fight with Marc and Miguel, yet he cannot overtake them. This frustrates him because he could go faster but cannot.
They also made the mistake of changing one thing before the race. It was something that made their pace slightly slower.
Quartararo did not give any details about the changes made. However, he did address it as a mistake. He also decided not to try hard rear tires this weekend as tires play a crucial role in winning the race.
He also said that he could not hear Bagnaia crashing behind him. So, he thinks that he did not crash far from me. He saw and believed that the way they ride is speedy, and for them, the hard rear was the correct tire.
However, he was stuck behind Maverick, a problematic part of the race.