Fabio Quartararo explains Brazil MotoGP slump from surprise second row

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo says his slump from fourth on the grid to a distant 16th in the MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix was down to a rear tyre issue.

The 2021 world champion stunned in qualifying at Goiania, when he dragged the new Yamaha V4 to its best starting position yet of fourth.

That came just weeks after he was 0.899s away from getting out of Q1 in Thailand.

Fabio Quartararo converted fourth to sixth in the sprint, but slumped 26.403s down the order to 16th in the shortened 23-lap grand prix.

He later explained that this was down to a rear tyre issue, which hindered him from the start of the race.

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“Yeah, we had an issue with the rear, to be honest,” he said.

“I didn’t have any performance from the beginning.

“So, already from the warm-up lap I felt that something was wrong.

“But sometimes it can happen, and unfortunately, it happened today. But, yeah, a difficult one.”

He added: “The start wasn’t as good as yesterday’s, and with the longer gears we struggle more in terms of power.

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“But the biggest problem was with the rear tyre.”

Riders should have had a 10-minute warning for start change, says Quartararo

Race direction announced just moments before the start that the race would be shortened from 31 laps to 23 due to the track breaking up at Turns 11 and 12.

Quartararo believes the riders should have had at least a 10-minute warning of the change in order to allow time for everyone to change tyres.

“We found out just five minutes before the start,” he said.

“It was a borderline decision, made at the last minute, but it was clear to me that I would put on the soft tyre.

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“Perhaps others, knowing that the race had been shortened from 31 to 23 laps, would have opted for the soft tyre as well.

“I’d say informing us 10 minutes beforehand would have been the right timing.

“Before the GP, I felt that something wasn’t quite right [with the track], but nothing specific.

“As far as I’m concerned, everything went well.”

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