Quartararo “wasn’t able to try an overtake” in “difficult” Mugello MotoGP race

The 2021 world champion came into the Italian GP weekend carrying the set-up he used that year having found none of Yamaha’s 2023 developments worked in previous rounds.

But this failed to transform his fortunes as he could only qualify 15th behind team-mate Franco Morbidelli and could manage only 10th in the sprint and 11th in the grand prix.

Quartararo raced the medium rear tyre having preferred the soft, and ended up stuck behind Ducati’s Enea Bastianini for much of the grand prix.

“Yes, really difficult because also in the warm-up I didn’t feel great with the medium,” he said.

“I was feeling much better with the soft, but the team thought the soft wasn’t going to handle [the heat].

“I was feeling great, but we chose the medium but for me it was not the best decision.

“It was difficult, I was behind Enea the whole race and wasn’t able to try an overtake. So, really difficult Sunday.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Quartararo won the 2021 edition of the Italian GP and was on the podium at Mugello last season.

But, despite using 2021 settings on his bike, he says he can’t compare to that year with his current package and lamented his drop in pace.

“No. We cannot compare because even if we used the same set-up the bike is different,” he added.

“So, we cannot compare with 2021 and not even with 2022. What is true is the lap time I made in 2021 was much better than the one I did this year.

“So, if I could have done better [on the 2021 bike] I don’t know, but the lap time is what counts and the results.

“Of course, it’s a totally different era because already the lap times that were in 2021 when I was doing 1m46s in pace was super-fast. Today I could do 1m47s low. So, it was difficult.”

Quartararo now trails Francesco Bagnaia in the championship by 77 points heading to this weekend’s German GP at the Sachsenring.