'In this track yes' - Quartararo worried about Ducati speed

Fabio Quartararo looks ahead to opening MotoGP Qatar race and why the speed of Ducati worries him after completing five productive test days with his new Monster Energy Yamaha team.

Robert Jones

14 Mar 2021

Fabio Quartararo, Qatar MotoGP test, 11 March 2021
© Gold and Goose

MotoGP testing at Qatar has finished with Ducati and Yamaha consistently looking strong heading into the 2021 season.

One of the riders responsible for that is new factory Monster Energy Yamaha man Fabio Quartararo.

Quartararo was one of three riders to go under the official lap record set by Marc Marquez in 2019 over the course of the five days, along with team-mate Maverick Vinales and Jack Miller.

Ducati have once again shown incredible top speed, and the Frenchman was asked if it was a concern ahead of the opening round.

Quartararo said: "Yes, in this track yes. In jerez, Le Mans not as much. Here the straight is over 1 kilometer so we are a bit worried.

"We can’t put any more horsepower in the engine so we need to fight. If we start to think about the power of Ducati, we already starting to lose some focus, so of course it is not the best."

Having been with the Petronas team for his first two years in the premier class, life as a factory rider has been a good one so far.

"I think the responsibility you have as a factory rider is massive. I felt like we were developing the bike with Maverick really well," said Quartararo.

"I think for Maverick he has been a factory rider for 6 years so he is experienced with it, but for me it is a bit strange to see all these engineers and have everyone listening.

"You feel that every word you say is important. You need to be clever and say the least amount of words possible but be the most direct as possible."

With the 2021 season starting in exactly two weeks time and many riders looking capable of winning, replicating Suzuki's consistency will be the aim for all the teams this campaign.

Speaking on whether he feels Yamaha can have the consistent level of Suzuki after his initial impressions, he said: "Right now we can’t say that. The thing with Suzuki last year is that they were consistent and fast in all the races.

"Right now we tried only one track. Maybe after Jerez, Portimao, Mugello, we can make really consistent races and see that we have a really good bike. But at the moment we cannot say that because we didn’t start the season."