Fabio Quartararo identifies Aprilia advantage after Silverstone MotoGP Sprint sweep

Fabio Quartararo believes rear-tyre overheating, rather than degradation, was behind the dramatic decline of several Ducati riders in Saturday’s Silverstone Sprint.

Although Aprilia riders Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura led from start to finish, the Ducatis of Fabio di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez held third and fourth during the opening laps.

But both then began to fade, with di Giannantonio sinking to fifth at the chequered flag and reigning champion Marquez dropping all the way to ninth, only just holding off rookie Diogo Moreira for the final point.

By contrast, Marco Bezzecchi rose through the field to complete the first-ever all-Aprilia Sprint podium. 

Alex Marquez emerged as the top Desmosedici rider in fourth.

“I think more than tyre degradation is [if] you overheat quite quickly the tyre,” explained factory Yamaha star Quartararo.

“This is something that when you have more grip, you can play more with the throttle and bring the temperature a bit lower.

“And I think this is where Aprilia is stronger than anyone else.

“Because I think they can keep the lower temperature in the rear tyre and they can stay longer at a strong pace.”

Meanwhile, Quartararo could only finish 14th on the V4-powered M1.

“The tyre consumption was a bit high also for us, because I pushed all the race, to be honest,” he said.

“I had Moreira and Marini overtake me on the straight, but the tyre degradation was quite a lot and I think the medium rear will be better tomorrow.”

Had Quartararo considered joining Pramac’s Jack Miller in trying the medium rear for the Sprint?

“No, because, to be honest, finishing in the points today was something almost impossible,” Quartararo replied.

“So, I wanted to bet with the soft. I know Jack was starting with the medium, but, I mean, if you start already with a tyre harder than the others and you know you have already less grip, for sure it's impossible to score a point.

“Today I gave my maximum, but it was not enough.”

On pole a year ago, Quartararo repeated his Friday conclusion that he feels too tense on the bike.

“Looking back at how I was feeling last year and how I'm feeling this year, I ride like I'm really tense on the bike,” he said.

“I'm not flowing with the bike and I'm not really feeling good, but it's a bit what I expect, to be honest.”

The Frenchman, who finished 0.7s behind Miller, added: “It's the kind of track where if you don't really feel the front and the rear together in the corner speed, that means that I'm super tense.

“So, I don't want to change every time the setting of the bike, because we always change, but we always come back to the same place.

“Just tomorrow, I will put the medium rear and try to maximise the result.”

Quartararo was cruelly denied victory in last year’s Silverstone grand prix by a ride-height device failure while leading on the former Inline-powered M1.