How Yamaha’s rookie-spec MotoGP star is taking charge

The contrast between last year’s Portuguese Grand Prix and the 2021 Algarve MotoGP race couldn’t be starker. Five months ago, Fabio Quartararo’s crumbling title charge met a meek end when he finished 14th and 24 seconds from runaway winner Miguel Oliveira on the Tech3 KTM.

Fast-forward to April of this year, decked in his new factory Yamaha colours instead of Petronas SRT mint green, Quartararo romped to his second win of the campaign 4.8s clear of the field - having gotten to the chequered flag some 26s quicker than he did last November.

Last weekend’s Portimao round was an important test for Yamaha and its 2021 challenger. In the pre-season, Quartararo admitted he expected to struggle when he got to lower grip venues, highlighting the Algarve track as one such potential problem.

The revised M1, with its lighter chassis, was the bike to beat in Qatar. Maverick Vinales scorched to victory in the opening Qatar GP, while Quartararo took top honours in the following Doha round. Both riders’ marches to victory were impressive as they carved their way through the pack following sluggish starts, proving the 2021 M1 had taken steps forward over its predecessor.

But the Yamaha has always gone well at Losail and the grip on offer after a month of running at the track played very much into the M1’s hands. Algarve, then, was always set to expose any weaknesses, yet Quartararo passed with flying colours.

Gifted pole when Francesco Bagnaia had his record-blitzing lap cancelled for a yellow flag infringement, dropping him to 11th, Quartararo once again had work to do after dropping to sixth at the start. The Algarve International Circuit is a harder track to pass on than Losail, but Quartararo came to the race armed to the teeth with knowledge. 

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In FP4, he effortlessly reeled off 1m39s on both the medium and hard rear tyres. When it came to race time and the track temperatures rose in the blazing Portuguese spring sunshine, Quartararo felt confident enough to opt for the harder rear tyre. The other Yamahas followed suit, but hadn't done any running on it beforehand.

“In any case, with the medium we didn’t have a drop but with the hard we were feeling a little bit better on the right side,” Quartararo explained. “The left side was the same as the medium but I felt better with the medium. But the hard compound on the right in the last sector was really good. So, it was a good decision to go with that tyre.”

Finding his way into the lead at the start of lap nine, having out-braked Suzuki’s Alex Rins into Turn 1, Quartararo really settled into a rhythm. From laps nine to 21 he managed 11 1m39s – the best of which a new race lap record of 1m39.472s. The chasing Rins’ pace was near-identical, the Suzuki rider managing eight 1m39s from lap 11 to 18, the best a 1m39.450s. Quartararo opened no doors, however, and Rins’ charge ultimately ended when he crashed at Turn 5 on lap 19. He claims the data showed he “did nothing wrong”, but Quartararo wasn’t asking easy questions of the Suzuki man.

“I was really impressed by his pace, because he had great pace yesterday [in FP4] but not that good,” Quartararo said. “For me I don’t feel that pressure. When I have someone behind, I’m just thinking about pulling away and the pressure maybe comes in the last laps, but now I was enjoying and pushing. It was more motivation than pressure.”

Algarve’s a harder track to pass on than Losail, but Quartararo came to the race armed to the teeth with knowledge. In FP4, he effortlessly reeled off 1m39s on both the medium and hard rear tyres

Three wins out of three for Yamaha in 2021 and a 15-point lead in the riders’ championship courtesy of Quartararo is a major turnaround from how the Japanese marque’s factory squad ended 2020. But a lacklustre showing from Vinales in Portugal has muddied the waters in terms of truly being able to heap praise on the M1 as being genuinely better than its predecessor, as he often played second fiddle to Quartararo last year.

Vinales complained of lacking grip all weekend, and was done dirty by Race Direction on Saturday when he had two potential pole laps cancelled for tripping the track limits sensors – new for 2021. Pictures of his apparent transgression appeared to show Vinales still very much in track limits. Starting 12th, he plummeted to 20th on the opening lap, a lack of front holeshot device holding Yamaha back against the likes of Ducati, Honda and KTM.

His pace at the start was reminiscent of the bad Vinales of old, at one stage lapping two seconds off the leader before his pace improved to mid 1m40s in the second half of the race. Eleventh was his take from the day as well as a serving of worry going forward.

Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda, Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I am especially worried because it’s a tough season to go like that,” Vinales replied when asked by Autosport if his form concerned him. “It’s hard to keep the focus and especially the motivation when you see yourself you could win the first two races, and then you arrive to the next track and you struggle to be in the top 10. Fortunately, some riders crashed and allowed us something better.

“But today was a difficult, difficult race. I cannot explain why, the feeling was really similar during all the weekend, very low grip. Just I had good grip on the last tyre in qualifying, which made a huge difference. If they didn’t cancel my lap, it was to be the pole position. So, basically all weekend we were struggling, we didn’t find out why.

“But it’s time to check, it’s time to see and to improve because on the other hand we will be in the same issue as every year. We start winning everything and then little by little we slow down. This is not positive.”

Vinales’ struggles last weekend have confused our understanding of the Yamaha package again. In 2020, the factory bike won four times. It wasn’t necessarily a bad bike, but it was inconsistent and definitely lacked in crucial areas. One such area was the front end, which both riders praised on the 2021 M1 in Qatar, and in Portugal Quartararo said it allowed him to run the pace he did.

“I think everybody knows last year we had a lot of struggles with engine and electronics,” Quartararo explained. “So, we needed to take out a lot of things that actually were working well for us, but for the consistency of the engine we had to take it off. This year we start with a normal base and of course it’s much better.

“But I feel better with the new chassis. I have a little bit more feedback that actually it’s one thing that is making me go faster. If I don’t feel the front I’m lost, like in Valencia last year. It was a total disaster.”

But Quartararo feels he’s seen enough over the first three races to confidently say the Yamaha is much closer to the bike he stunned the paddock on in his rookie season in 2019.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I feel honestly like 2019,” he added. “The bike is working so well and I have the same [bike as Qatar]. We didn’t touch the bike. We arrived here, it’s exactly the same bike as Qatar, changing a few things.

“But we never asked ourselves ‘should we try this’. And 2019 was like this and you can see the difference between Qatar and here, it’s totally different tracks. So that means the bike is going so well and I’m pretty sure the bike will work in all the tracks this year. Maybe we will struggle for sure, but I think the bike will go well in all tracks.”

In 2019, Quartararo regularly guided his ‘B-spec’ M1 to better results than his factory counterparts, tallying up seven podiums and going toe-to-toe with Marc Marquez at Misano and Buriram in duels for the victory. It was that Quartararo which managed to position himself as a 2020 title challenger midway through 2019 and who was deemed worthy to replace Valentino Rossi in 2021.

"I think everybody knows last year we had a lot of struggles with engine and electronics. So, we needed to take out a lot of things that actually were working well for us, but for the consistency of the engine we had to take it off" Fabio Quartararo

That Quartararo also worked with a sports psychologist after the crushing disappointment of qualifying fifth for his debut race, only to stall on the warm-up lap and be forced to start from pitlane. And after the way his 2020 unravelled following back-to-back wins at the start of the season at Jerez, Quartararo opted for the same course of action. The results have been clear to see.

“Honestly Yamaha made a big step compared to last year, but for me mentally I feel stronger,” he revealed. “Last year after Aragon, where we lose more or less the opportunity to fight to the end with Joan [Mir] in the championship, I was even not frustrated to have lost that moment to fight with him. I’ve learned a lot, last year when the bike was not so great, I was thinking always negative.

“I feel like I’m totally different. When you win the first two races in a row [like in 2020] with an advantage of four seconds, you feel that it’s going to start and keep going. But the other ones are working so hard to go over you, to take that place. And actually, now I’m just thinking race by race.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“At Jerez [last year] I was like, ‘Wow, we are first in the championship’. I’d never been in that position ever and it was strange for me. So, that’s why right now I’m even not looking at the championship. I’m just thinking about the next race, and even during the pre-season I worked pretty well with my psychologist and I feel like all the exercises he gave to me were good at keeping me calm.”

Yamaha hasn’t won the first three races of a season since 2010. That year Rossi won the first round, while the spoils in the following two rounds went to Jorge Lorenzo. It was the latter who would go on to win the championship.

How Quartararo stage managed his Portugal race was very reminiscent of the triple MotoGP world champion, reeling off stunning pace without seemingly breaking a sweat.

It’s clear the 2021 Yamaha is a better package than its predecessor, but Vinales’ woes are skewing just how much of a gain has been made and whether his Portugal issues are bike-related or rider-related.

But what the Portuguese GP definitely proved is the biggest improvement at Yamaha has been Quartararo. Channelling all the confidence and speed that made him a rookie sensation in 2019, Quartararo currently looks well-equipped to right the wrongs of 2020.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images