Fabio Quartararo explains Dutch MotoGP Sprint crash: “We made a mistake on Friday…”

Fabio Quartararo says a “mistake” made on Friday in combination with the intensity of his riding led to his crash out of the Dutch MotoGP Sprint.

The French rider qualified on pole on Saturday morning, but was shuffled back to fourth behind Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez, and Marco Bezzecchi before he crashed out of the Sprint.

Quartararo suggested afterwards that a mistake in the use of his tyre allocation on Friday had forced him to mount a used soft-compound front tyre for the Sprint.

“We made a mistake on Friday and we had start with a used front [tyre],” Fabio Quartararo told British broadcaster TNT Sports after the Sprint in the Netherlands.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider added that the level he was pushing to in the Sprint meant that the possibility of a crash was higher.

“I feel good on the bike,” he said.

“But, pushing to the extreme limit all the laps [means] that we make mistakes and we crash, but this is what happens when you are at 100 per cent every single corner.”

Quartararo explained how the Yamaha is deficient compared to other MotoGP bikes in race scenarios, repeating comments from previous years about the ability of more powerful bikes to prevent Yamaha riders from running lines that allow them to exploit the strengths of the YZR-M1.

“Like always, if you make your lap time alone, it’s okay, but in the race, when they can use all the power and all the grip that they have, we cannot really make our lines and we always have to think about the people behind,” Quartararo said.

“We are working on it and trying to figure out what we can do.”

The French rider added: “We knew that on pure pace we were good, but we know that Marc [Marquez], Alex [Marquez] were a little bit stronger in some areas.

“When the conditions change a bit we are still struggling.

“We are working to try to understand the situation and try to see what we can achieve, because making your pace alone is one thing, but in the race it’s another story. This is why they are much better than us.”