Quartararo: I should have been black-flagged from Catalunya MotoGP

Quartararo’s leathers came open with around five laps of Sunday’s race to go and he completed the grand prix with his suit opened and without his chest protector.

This would gain him a three-second time penalty some hours after the race, dropping him to sixth having already lost third to a three-second time penalty for a track limits violation – something he continues to disagree with.

When asked by Autosport on Monday following a post-race test if he had time to reflect on the second penalty, Quartararo concedes that he should have been black-flagged and thus disqualified from the race for his suit problem as “it was not correct” behaviour in the wake of the Jason Dupasquier tragedy last week.

“Yes, first of all, yeah I think looking back at what happened now the story is finished I can be happy because it’s difficult to admit, but for me it was black flag,” he conceded.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I mean, it’s true that I put in danger myself and also with what happened last week I think it was the correct thing.

“But I was lucky. The only penalty I don’t agree with was the shortcut because I don’t feel it was fair.

“I lost seven tenths, but if I lost one second the penalty was gone, and how do I know on the bike I lose seven tenths of one second?

“So, that was a little bit stupid. But I admit the second penalty. I was angry, of course, but better this than zero points.”

Quartararo took aim at the over-regulating of track limits, highlighting several incidents at Mugello as well as his own infraction at Barcelona, and believes current rules are “taking out the fun” of racing.

“For the safety, the more there is the better it is,” Quartararo said when asked by Autosport if the rules surrounding rider equipment needs changed.

“But we are getting into some things that I really don’t like, like Miguel [Oliveira] and [Joan] Mir in Mugello last lap.

“They [exceeded] track limits, but it’s not track limits out of the kerb, it was the end of the kerb like Joe Roberts also in Mugello.

“It’s not giving any gains. The shortcut, I mean I don’t go through because I wanted to go straight.

“I lost the front, I crashed and I go straight. If it was gravel there I would go in the gravel.

“You get a three-second penalty to shortcut, but the shortcut was slower than normal, so it’s not a shortcut.

“So, for me the rules is getting more and more strict, we can’t always be precisely on the line.

“We can make mistakes and I think it’s taking out the fun side of the show and we are not robots, so I think a little bit of mistakes is allowed by the riders and more when you need to make 24 laps on the limit.”