Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo conceded that trying to push for the win on the final lap of the Indonesian MotoGP race would have been “a big risk.”
Quartararo illustrated impressive speed throughout the Indonesian Grand Prix having started from fourth on the grid, the Frenchman moving into the podium places after Jorge Martin crashed from the lead in the middling stages.
Despite lacking the outright speed of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in the early part of the encounter, he charged back towards the lead battle to sit less than a second from the point over the final couple of circulations.
He looked to be enjoying significantly more grip than his rivals but was ultimately unable to mount an attack on either and thus had to settle for third. Quartararo admitted after scoring his third rostrum result of the year that he was already “on the limit” chasing Vinales, and that it would have been “a big risk” to try and make a move.
“Today was great, especially the second part of the race. This morning (in warm-up) the feeling with the medium (compound tyre) was not good, especially in the first laps, but it improved in the race,” said Quartararo.
“The pace in the second part of the race was good, but unfortunately I couldn’t try and pass. I was 3.5 seconds away from Pecco (Bagnaia) at one stage and I finished really close, so it was great for us.
“Pecco was really easy on the last lap whereas Maverick was the opposite and went all in, so for me it was hard to try (a pass) because he was on the limit and I was on the limit too.
“For us, it was already great to be on the podium, so there was never really a chance to overtake, it would have been a big risk.”
The 2021 MotoGP world champion added that he felt stronger results could be at Yamaha’s fingertips should it be able to work on the qualifying performance of the M1, Quartararo pointing out that he has finished on the podium three times when from the second row.
“All season our big weak point has been qualifying, because I think I’m more often out of Q2 and normally when I’m there I can get in the second row. From there I’ve had a podium in Austin, India and here as well as Assen in the sprint race,” continued Quartararo.
“We need to improve the bike to always be consistently on the first two rows because on our own the pace is great, you could see when I was on my own I could make some strong lap times.”
