Quartararo explains slicks-in-wet “challenge” in MotoGP Japanese GP

Rainfall prior to the start of Sunday’s grand prix at Motegi led to the entire field running the entire first lap on slicks as conditions rapidly deteriorated.

Having started 14th, Yamaha’s Quartararo elected to carry on for another lap as the majority of the field pitted at the end of the first tour for their wet bikes.

Insight: 10 things we learned from the 2023 Japanese GP

Quartararo stuck it out for just one more lap, however, and pitted at the end of the second tour, and would go on to finish 10th when the race was red-flagged midway through.

After a wretched sprint contest on Saturday, the 2021 world champion says the prospect of only making up a few spots running the same strategy as the rest justified trying something alternative on Sunday.

“I tried to stay one more lap on the track because the track was wet, but it wasn’t raining a lot,” Quartararo told Canal+.

“As soon as I started my second lap in the dry, I clearly saw that I couldn’t stay any longer [on slicks].

“I think finishing 14th or 10th is not a very big change for us, so I wanted to try this challenge. It didn’t work but, hey, we’ll take the positives from this weekend.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Asked by Autosport what he could have gained by pitting on lap one, Quartararo added: “A few positions further up, but no higher than P7. On the last two laps, I made some mistakes and lost a few seconds… maybe P7, P8, P9.”

Quartararo has always maintained that the M1 works decently enough in fully wet conditions, and he “expected much worse” in last Sunday’s race.

However, he noted that with the current Yamaha engine the problems he faces with power delivery – which leads to a lack of rear traction and compromises top speed – never has “a balance”.

“From my point of view, the engine is ok - not super-smooth, but not super-bad,” he said.

“In some areas, we are not too bad in the wet, I expected much worse. The problem is all really good, or all really bad.

“There is not a balance where we can make it well. Going into the corners is really difficult but when in the grip area, where we have to pick up our bike, it was not too bad today.

“Just I cannot carry speed into the corners. This is a problem for us.”