Fabio Quartararo’s Friday at the Thai Grand Prix was met with more frustration than optimism. Struggling to make it into the Top 10 despite an initial push in the early parts of Practice, the Frenchaman found himself limited by the familiar lack of grip and rear-end stability – a problem haunting the Yamaha rider since the start of the season.
“Well, the day was not super positive for us,” Quartararo admitted. He noted that while his race pace felt “quite ok,” he was forced to “push like hell” from the start.
“We clearly see that we miss a lot of grip in the time attack,” he added. For weeks now, Yamaha keeps struggling on one-lap pace, ruining every good effort in the sprint and race.
The apparent disconnect between his race pace and the struggle to nail a fast time in the single-lap attacks makes the situation all the more dire.
“I didn’t expect to be that fast on [race] pace but I didn’t expect to be that slow in the time attack,” he said. Much of the issues, he explained, come down to a lack of rear grip, particularly coming out of slower corners.
“From slow corners, we have no rear grip, and this is what is clearly missing, especially on a fast lap.”
“The lack of rear grip is forcing me to stop the M1 exclusively with the front tire,” he shared. “To lift the rear tire that much is just losing time.” Quartararo finished the first day of the weekend 12th on the timesheet.
