‘I was just 2.2s from Bottas’ - Fabio Quartararo reveals impressive F1 simulator run
Fabio Quartararo has opened up on his F1 simulator run as driving a real car remains a goal
Yamaha MotoGP rider Fabio Quartararo says he “had a deal” to drive a Formula 1 car which never ultimately happened, but revealed an impressive detail about his simulator preparation.
The 2021 MotoGP world champion was due to test a Mercedes F1 car in 2022 through mutual sponsor Monster Energy.
During that year’s British Grand Prix, Fabio Quartararo noted: “About Mercedes, it’s something I’m working to, it’s not something planned yet.
“But of course it would be something that I would love to try.
“I’ve been to the simulator, I’ve been in the car, but I’ve never had a chance to test it.
“I spent a really nice day with Lewis [Hamilton] but we were not talking about racing, just having fun on the surf and the jet ski, it was a good day.”
Quartararo visited the F1 Barcelona Grand Prix last weekend, which reignited talks of his Mercedes test plans from a few years ago.
Speaking about this on Thursday ahead of the Czech Grand Prix, Quartararo said a deal was in place to test the car.
“Yeah, of course,” he said when asked if that’s something he’d like to do in future.
“I mean, we had a deal, but we never really did it.
“But I went to the simulator, I was not so bad, so it's something that I want to do in life, and we will organise something.”
Expanding on this, he reveals he did 60 laps of Silverstone in the Mercedes simulator and was just 2.2s slower than multiple race winner Valtteri Bottas, who was a driver for the team at that time.
“I made 60 laps in Silverstone in the simulator, and I was 2.2 seconds from Bottas, so it was not so bad,” Quartararo said.
On his experience of the F1 paddock, Quartararo noted that it was “much more exclusive” than MotoGP.
Both series are now owned by Liberty Media. In recent weeks, former F1 boss Ross Brawn was announced as joining Pramac’s board of directors.
Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez was also present at the Barcelona F1 weekend as a guest of Audi.
He was promoted on-screen by F1’s world feed graphics as a “former MotoGP champion”, which he responded to on Thursday at Brno.
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