Fabio Quartararo “knew something was wrong” before Yamaha MotoGP engine blow-up

Fabio Quartararo says he “nearly stopped” at the start of the MotoGP Aragon sprint, as his Yamaha engine was already having an issue before it blew up.

The 2021 world champion’s difficult Aragon weekend continued on Saturday, as he struggled to 17th in qualifying, before retiring after his engine expired on lap five of 11.

The Frenchman says the problem with the engine was apparent from the start, and he was gradually losing power before it finally stopped.

“I think it’s easy to see what happened,” he said.

“But from the start already, the engine, I nearly stopped at the start. And then I was losing power step by step.

“And it happened to me in Thailand. I knew something was wrong until the lap where we all saw what happened. So, nothing really to say.”

Fabio Quartararo already lost an engine from his allocation earlier in the year, with the Yamaha rider left with just three fresh units until the 19th round of the calendar, when he will be able to use a 10th.

However, he isn’t sure what engine from his allocation actually blew up on Saturday at Aragon.

“To be honest, I don't know how many engines we have,” he added.

“But I think we have not so much left. So I don't know if it was used or not.

“But all weekend this bike was really slow.

“We had to test a lot of things during the weekend.

“So I jumped from one bike to the other. It was more about testing than trying to find performance this weekend. But I hope it was a high-mileage engine.”

‘I’ve been a test rider, not a race rider, this weekend’

Quartararo has been testing numerous new parts for Yamaha this weekend, including a new chassis, which he says is “worse” than his standard one.

“Yes, it's worse,” he said of the new Yamaha frame.

“Yesterday, I said it was worse. They wanted to compare again this morning. It was worse.

“So I think, as I said, I was more about test rider this weekend, testing three times the chassis.

“But it was not working. We had a new link also, was not improved.

“So I basically ran with a standard bike. But when you jump to one chassis, one other, even if the difference is not too big, already the feeling is not there.

“But I was a bit confused. But it is what it is. And we are trying to find more performance.”