Fabio Quartararo has openly expressed his disapproval of the new MotoGP format, which has seen the introduction of the Sprint Race on Saturdays. Like many others, he wasn’t thrilled with the new feature when it was announced last summer, but the 2021 world champion was waiting to see what it would be like for the riders, and after what he saw in Portimao this afternoon his opinion of him is very clear.
So when he met the press half an hour after the finish and was asked if he liked the format, his response was: “No, not at all!” And he continued by sounding the alarm: “There will be a big accident. Soon. It’s a jungle. It’s not like car racing, where when you touch it’s not a problem and it’s much safer.”
“Luckily nothing happened, but there are still 20 sprint races to go. I don’t like it at all,” added the Yamaha rider, believing this format encourages riders to be extremely aggressive. “Today it was only Marini and Bastianini who crashed in the contact, but there will clearly be many more crashes in the future,” he warned.
“I’m not surprised,” he added about the aggressiveness evident on the track. “It’s 12 laps. Doing two 25-lap races would be physically difficult, but 25 laps give you a little more time. Now, if you lose three places, you’re ruined. I think for safety it’s better to do two 25-lap races than one 12-lap race. I don’t want to complain, but in the end it’s a safety issue. It’s not a problem to touch. In the final laps, with Alex Marquez, we touched three or four times, but that’s not a problem, it’s the race. But in the first laps the situation was getting crazy. It’s normal for the riders, but we’re on bikes that sometimes react in such a way that we can’t control them. That’s the way things are. That’s what I think, but I don’t want to get too involved in that.”
Despite being against the format, Fabio Quartararo also feels helpless: “We have no power. Who decides? They. We do many things, but we always make changes afterwards and in the end, there’s no point in talking”.
A departure negative and no points in your pocket
As for his personal performance, the Yamaha rider may have some regrets, as a technical problem ruined his start in the race, before a contact with Joan Mir, who crashed on the opening lap. Even if he climbed up to tenth place, two tenths behind Alex Marquez’s Ducati, these incidents prevented him from pocketing points, as only the top nine are rewarded.
“We had a problem with the launch control, with second gear. My start was good, but then, when I put second gear, I lost a lot of positions. Then I got hit by Joan and I ended up in last place “, has explained. “I found myself way behind and tried to do my best.”
“My pace wasn’t bad,” said Fabio Quartararo, who qualified 11th, “but I think we understood some things during this race and I think we need to improve our lap pace to be better positioned on the grid.”
Tomorrow we return to the main race, which is held over 25 laps. Will it be different? “Very different, I don’t know, because the riders who are on the podium today are also very quick on their pace over long distances. But I think it will be a bit better in the first few laps,” he said. “You have to be aggressive, but it seemed like the first lap was the last. It’s normal because you don’t want to lose positions. In the future, everyone will have to fight like this. This is what I think is quite dangerous.”
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