Crutchlow: Quartararo “uncrackable” despite Yamaha MotoGP bike frustrations
Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow believes 2022 MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo is “uncrackable” mentally given the problems he has faced with the bike.


Quartararo leads the standings by 18 points from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia coming into this weekend’s Thailand Grand Prix.
But he comes off the back of a frustrating Japanese GP in which he could only finish eighth having been unable to pass anyone due to the power limitations of the 2022 Yamaha.
Quartararo’s points lead only grew because Bagnaia crashed on the last lap while Aleix Espargaro scored nothing due to mapping issue forcing him to swap bikes on the warm-up lap.
But RNF stand-in Crutchlow – who has worked with Quartararo at Yamaha since 2021 – believes the Frenchman’s mental resilience is what is keeping him in the 2022 title race, as well as his speed.
“I think Fabio will push for the wins,” Crutchlow said on Thursday in Thailand.
“Fabio is so strong mentally. The position he is in in the championship… yes, the bike is good in many areas.
“But I think he is really riding maybe not above what he’s got, but he’s really riding well.
“But the difference, a lot is his mindset, the confidence he has on the bike and his feeling. And he’s sort of uncrackable.
“If something happens he just forgets about it and moves on.
“But I understand the situation he had in Motegi. The bike’s he’s racing against, they’re so difficult to pass.
“I found in the race it took me three laps to pass every guy.

Cal Crutchlow, RNF MotoGP Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“You have to get such a run on them or wait for them to get not the best exit from the corner to stay right on them.”
Buriram has been good to Yamaha in the past, with Quartararo narrowly missing victory in MotoGP’s last visit to Thailand in 2019 when he was on the Petronas SRT-run M1.
But its combination of long straights and hard acceleration zones will work against the Yamaha, with Quartararo conceding there is nothing to be done to the bike now set-up wise that will make any difference in overtaking.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do,” Quartararo said when asked if Yamaha could make any changes to the bike to help with overtaking.
“We have the same bike as the beginning of the year. We managed to get a different chassis lately, but it’s not a massive change.
“So, at the end we cannot do many things.
“Next year will be more fun for us. We have more engine performance, I think they are still doing more evolution. So next year’s we should have more facilities [to overtake].”

How a MotoGP favourite’s return happened in a year ‘not even Hitchcock could script'
Bagnaia “still thinking” about Motegi MotoGP crash a week on

Latest news
Why WTR Acura lacked pace to beat MSR in Daytona 24 showdown
Filipe Albuquerque admits that he knew it would be a tall order for Wayne Taylor Racing to overcome sister Acura squad Meyer Shank Racing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours.
How MSR took Acura to the first win of sportscar racing's new era
After much anticipation, the new dawn for sportscar racing got underway with a result that mirrored last year's IMSA SportsCar Championship's season-opener run to the previous DPi rules. Here's how Acura once again took top honours in the Daytona 24 Hours with a 1-2 led by Meyer Shank Racing, as the new GTP class for LMDh hybrid prototypes made its bow
Alonso's pushy trait a boost for me in 2023 F1 season, says Stroll
Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll says Fernando Alonso's pushy nature will be a boost to both him and the squad this year.
Porsche aims to “learn quick” from Daytona 24 Hours disappointment
Porsche’s director of factory racing Urs Kuratle says his team will gain valuable answers from its disappointing results in the Daytona 24 Hours.
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
Following Suzuki's decision to quit MotoGP, both of its former riders have landed at Honda for 2023. But perhaps its biggest signing from the now-defunct team could instead be a highly-rated technical manager. Is Ken Kawauchi the right man at the right time to steer HRC back to glory?
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Suzuki's unexpected departure left more than 40 professionals virtually jobless for the 2023 MotoGP season. But that human drama has been successfully corrected by the paddock itself, with most former Suzuki crew-members absorbed into other operations
How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
The Petronas Sepang Racing Team came into MotoGP with a bang in 2019 as regular front-runners, with wonder rookie Fabio Quartararo mounting a title challenge in 2020. But it all went wrong for the Razlan Razali-helmed squad as the team changed hands and tumbled down the order - and RNF Racing plans to right this in 2023
Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Marc Marquez’s sixth premier MotoGP title seems a long time ago given the injury woes he has faced in the three years since. At the end of a fraught 2022, in which he had a fourth major operation on his right arm, the Spaniard speaks exclusively to Autosport
How MotoGP’s underachiever is working to reverse its fortunes in 2023
As European manufacturers emerged as the strongest force in 2022 in a changing of the guard for MotoGP, one powerhouse couldn’t quite match the feats of Ducati and Aprilia. Its motorsport chief tells Autosport why this is and what it is doing to become a consistent frontrunner in the class of kings
How MotoGP riders are preparing for the physical stress of sprint races
With the expansion of the calendar to 21 grands prix and the introduction of sprint races, the 2023 MotoGP season will take the riders to almost 1,300 kilometres of competition more than this year, a factor that forces adjustments in their physical preparations.
The Ducati rider who is much more than just the brother of a MotoGP legend
Surname pressure is something many have had to deal with in their motorsport careers. And while Luca Marini doesn’t have that, his familial relation and the team he rides for in MotoGP have cast a brighter spotlight on his progress. But, as he has shown in 2022 – and as he reveals to Autosport – Marini is so much more than just the brother of a legend
Ranking the top 10 riders of MotoGP 2022
The 2022 MotoGP season was another hotly contested championship, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as the title winner after the campaign went to the wire. Autosport picks out the 10 best performers of the season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.