‘My mentality is to be safe’: Fabio Quartararo's confidence hits new low at Mugello MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo admits he is “into a mindset that I don’t want to crash” and is unwilling to push, given how uncompetitive he is on the Yamaha at the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix.

The 2021 world has struggled from the off at Mugello, with the M1’s lack of top speed coupled with difficulties in turning the bike leaving him 18th on the grid and 14th in the sprint.

He was bested by team-mate Alex Rins in both sessions, with the Spaniard 12th in qualifying and finishing in that position in the race.

Fabio Quartararo is due to leave Yamaha at the end of the year for Honda, and admits his lack of pace on the M1 this weekend is leading him to ride more conservatively to try to avoid injury.

“It's sad. It's sad because five years ago, I managed to go almost half a second faster,” he said about his qualifying lap on Saturday after the Mugello sprint.

“But, you know, the feeling from FP1 was really bad, with the front sliding a lot.

“I tried to push, but now I'm more into a mindset that I don't want to crash, I don't want to get injured at this track. And, yeah, we know that we are lost.

“I mean, of course, you know, it's my job to give my best, but, you know, in the corners where I know it's tricky and dangerous, I try to stay a bit more into not pushing to 100%, because, you know, it doesn't matter if I finish 15th, 16th, 12th, especially in the sprint.”

The Frenchman expanded on this sentiment, noting that, even when slow, there are still occasions when he would still push for smaller results because he is enjoying riding the bike.

But now, “it’s more a nightmare than enjoying”

“There is a way where you are happy to fight for 12th,” he explained.

“Or like this race, you know, when you're almost two seconds per lap slower.

“You know, you don't really want to push, but when you are getting closer, when you know that, you know, you have something that you are feeling well, you can push to 100%, you want to push because you feel that even if you are slow, you know it's your limit and you try to enjoy.

“But now it's more a nightmare than enjoying, you know. So, this is why I feel that I don't... It's not necessary to push that much.”

Quartararo says the lack of front-end feeling and turning he has been battling at Mugello is not a consequence of the V4 engine compared to what he was used to on the inline-four.

“I don't think it's the nature of the V4, because we are all using V4 [on the grid] and what other bikes are doing, I can guarantee you, is not about V4.

“So, yeah, we are, like I said, I think that we still didn't bring any update since the first time we tried the bike, and we are not using anything that can really help.

“But, you know, Yamaha, I hope that they know what they are doing, but now I think that my mentality is to try to be safe.”

Comparing his form to that of team-mate Rins this weekend, he concedes “I have no excuses; I’m just slow”.