The Frenchman finished the San Marino MotoGP, where he had started, in 13th, then revealed he we will be “focussing on the [2024] engine” but also have “new chassis and new aero” for the test.

“So hopefully we can take some positives tomorrow.”

Although upgraded for this season, Yamaha’s current engine is still not strong enough to run high levels of downforce or battle with the likes of Ducati, KTM and Aprilia and he has switched back to the older, smaller wings for Catalunya and now Misano.

But the M1’s straight-line performance was again exposed in Sunday’s race, where Quartararo spent the first half of the grand prix following the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and the second half in the wheel-tracks of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

The 2021 world champion even had a chance to test his theory that he would be much faster if he could ride alone.

“Same as yesterday, I couldn’t overtake any rider,” Quartararo said. “In the last four laps, I made one lap where I decided to just slow down to make a gap with the guys in front of me.

“It was just for myself, to say ‘I will push a little bit more’ and see if I was able to go faster and I improved half-a-second [a lap].

“So basically, I could go much faster. And the pace with the bike we have was quite okay. So in terms of my riding, I’m happy with how I rode today.”

But the overtaking problem, which cannot be worked on during a test, “is a problem we’ve had for years and years.

“Even when I won the championship, I said ‘we cannot win anymore with this bike’. And last year, we finished second, we didn’t win. But this year is even worse.

“When you’re much faster than the guys in front of you, you have to overtake.

“This is what we are struggling with, in every single track it’s the same. Especially here was even worse.”

All of which means Quartararo is only eleventh in the riders standings and Yamaha fifth and last in the constructors’ world championship.

“I’m not enjoying. I’m giving my 100% but when you think that last year I finished P5 [here], two years ago I fought for victory with Pecco. And now we are that far [+15s]? It’s difficult.

“But I can be happy about my pace today because my pace was good.”

Although winless for over a year, Quartararo concedes that finishing runner-up to Francesco Bagnaia in last year’s title chase may have lulled Yamaha into a false sense of security over the size of the technical deficit.

“I asked since 2020 and 2021 for changes on the bike. But I guess for the Japanese mentality, when your bike is P1, you don’t want to take any risks. When you are second last year, fighting for the championship, they don’t want to take so much risk,” he said.

“So finishing in this kind of position [now] and seeing Yamaha is last in the constructors – maybe it will change a little bit. But of course we have to make big changes and I think we are many years in delay.”

However, Quartararo remains concerned that the Japanese management are not prepared to be “sufficiently aggressive… as aggressive as Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. They [Europeans] are much more aggressive and more direct, let’s say. If they want to improve ‘this area’, they have a plan to do it.”

Comparisons are often made between Quartararo and eight-time champion Marc Marquez, now winless at Honda for two seasons.

“For sure we are both in a bad situation,” Quartararo said.

Marc Marquez will also have a 2024 prototype to try at Misano on Monday.

The MotoGP rules prevent Quartararo from using any engine or fairing upgrades for the remainder of 2023, but the chassis could be changed for the remaining rounds if it also fits with the current engine.

Any aerodynamic developments outside of the prescribed ‘aero body’ locations, such as the rear seat unit, could also be raced this year.

Engine performance has again been labelled as Quartararo’s top priority for next season.

The current design, while better than 2022, is still not strong enough to run high levels of downforce and overtaking the likes of Ducati, Aprilia and KTM remains a major challenge.

The Frenchman acknowledged the prototype 2024 engine ‘felt different’ but struggled to say if it was any better than this year’s design.

“I cannot say right now. I need to test more, but I expected better from this,” Quartararo said.

“The feeling is different. But, like I said, I think I expected more power, more power and yeah… It was a little bit difficult to say something really positive about the engine.

“But we have to stay positive and try to analyse what happened to improve for the Valencia tests.”

That feedback contrasted with a year ago, when Quartararo got his first taste of this year’s engine, designed with the aid of ex-F1 designer Luca Marmorini.

“In 2022, when I tried the 2023 bike [here], I think it’s the first time when I felt the engine was a bit better. But today, I didn’t feel,” he said.

Marmorini was watching from the Monster Yamaha pits, had Quartararo spoken to him?

“I talked to Luca before the start, but not after. So now in approximately 2 minutes, I am in the meeting [with him]. So I prefer to come [here] before the meeting!”

Quartararo agreed that the huge grip levels on track today hadn’t helped with the testing of new parts, since the Yamaha naturally performs better in such conditions.

“The biggest thing for us is when the track is high grip, it changes totally our bike. I did ‘31.4 with almost 20 laps on the tyre. And this was my qualifying lap from the weekend,” said the 2021 world champion, who finished the test sixth fastest.

“Of course, the others are much faster than us, but their performance difference from low grip to high grip is much smaller than us. Our pace improved almost one second, 7-8 tenths. And for them it’s not as much.”

Quartararo was also wary that the boost provided by such grip had perhaps led Yamaha astray in the past.

“I think last year we got it wrong in this area. Many bikes are putting down Michelin rubber, and it’s a track where you spin a lot so you leave a lot of the tyre. If you go to turn 3 right now, it’s black.

“So then you open the throttle, on the race weekend you have to control because it’s sliding, but now you can stay wide open and it’s fake.”

But it wasn’t all bad news.

Quartararo also tried some new aero under the swingarm, which can be used this season since it is outside the restricted ‘aero body’ zones.

“One of the things that was positive was the ‘spoon’ we tried under the swingarm, so I think this we will have for the next race. And the rest, I think we will try to build some new things for Valencia test.”

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli tried a different chassis but didn’t like it.

Quartararo: ‘I have to stay polite’

Quartararo’s current situation is frequently compared with that of fellow former champion Marc Marquez at Honda.

Both champions have been demanding major technical progress after a dire 2023 campaign.

Quartararo has taken just one grand prix podium this season, with Marquez’s only top three finish coming in the season opening Portimao Sprint.

Meanwhile, over 100 points now separates the three European brands – Ducati, KTM and Aprilia – from bottom of the table Yamaha and Honda in the constructors’ standings.

Yamaha’s last MotoGP victory was over a year ago by Quartararo. Marquez has been winless for two seasons, although Alex Rins broke Honda’s drought with a shock victory in COTA this year.

While Marquez is openly teasing a possible switch away from Honda despite a 2024 contract, Quartararo is trying to ‘stay calm’ and ‘stay polite’.

“Yamaha believed in me when I arrived to Moto2, and my attitude at the beginning of this year was a little bit more arrogant than what I had to do,” Quartararo said of his reaction to the disappointing form of this year’s M1.

“So of course we are in a tough moment, but I have to stay polite.

“We [Yamaha and I] both want the same and of course it’s difficult, but I prefer to stay more calm and try to build a better combination with everybody.”

Morbidelli was eighth quickest at a test led by the 2022 Ducati of Luca Marini.

“We have to try again. It sounds strange, but it’s not worse, it’s not better,” said Espargaro at lunchtime.

“It’s really, really different. So we need to try in another circuit, you need to rebalance the bike.

“It’s not that easy. Sometimes when you are in the level that we are right now, to improve the chassis is very difficult!”

The Spaniard, who was 16th fastest (+0.986s) in ‘Session 1’, revealed he suffered a crash (pictured) on the new frame which he attributed to being caught out by the softer ‘flex’.

“I was trying the new chassis. I lost the rear in the entry of 13. I went straight towards the wall. It was very scary… It was not really a crash. I went wide, super fast and to avoid the wall I jumped off the bike.”

The straight-talking 34-year-old, winner of the British and Catalan GPs, added:

“I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say but that the new frame is lighter and I felt also that it is a little bit more flexible, more soft, which is not really what the engineers were trying to do.

“It’s a little bit better on the on the bumps – corners 1-14-15-16 – but then it’s a little bit more unstable [in others]. So we need to keep working.

“We have to see also how it will be with the new the ‘24 aerodynamics because if you have a flexible chassis but you can add some weight somehow in the rear, in the front, it will also change.

“So this is why this is just a small test and we will keep going.”

But Espargaro ruled out trying the carbon fibre chassis during the remaining rounds of this season.

“For me, with the package we have, it’s good enough to fight for victories. I don’t want to change it,” he said.

“It’s not the time to change it. We have a lot of races now. It’s better to be focused on what we have. Even don’t play so much with the geometry.

“At this point of the season, it’s better to be focused and ‘stress’ at the maximum what you have.”

The next Official MotoGP test will be directly after the Valencia finale, at the end of November.

Vinales was third fastest in Session 1 with both factory Aprilia riders returning to the track for this afternoon’s Session 2.

This time it was at Monday’s Misano test, where Marquez joined team-mate Joan Mir in trying the new Honda used by test rider Stefan Bradl as a wild-card in the San Marino MotoGP.

But the test has added significance since Marquez continues to be vague over his future plans and has repeatedly emphasised the need to see a real ‘reaction’ from Honda to climb out of its current rut.

However, Marquez and Mir were left bottom of the timesheets by the lunch break and the eight-time world champion warned: “the riding style is quite different. But in the end, the problems are more or less the same, so we need to work more.”

He confirmed those problems are a lack of rear grip.

The new bike is more of a ‘2023.5’, being described by Marquez as a “new chassis and new geometry” but powered by the current engine.

“It’s a bit different in the riding position,” he explained. “In the beginning, it was a bit strange, but then lap by lap – as with a new bike – it becomes more natural.

“But in the end, the way to ride, the way to look for the lap time, is very similar to the current one.

“Of course, you always expect more,” he admitted. “But still it’s the first impressions and there are many new engineers in the garage. So now with that information, they must work and keep going.”

Marquez will presumably continue testing after lunch, with his next chance to ride the bike after the Valencia season finale at the end of November.

“They need to work, still we are far. If this is the base. Or the bike. We are far. Still we need to work and change many things,” he said.

“There’s not much time for Valencia because it’s in two months, but let’s see if they can do a step.”

Marc Marquez: My future clear ‘around India-Japan’

Quizzed once again on when he will announce his 2024 plans, Marquez said that “around India-Japan, I will decide.”

That appeared to contradict statements earlier in the race weekend, when Marquez said he had already decided:

“Yeah, but I don’t inform, because maybe it’s not clear. Sometimes you can change [your mind], no?

“I have two plans. So now I need to choose a plan, but the decision is there.”

Those plans are assumed to be either completing the final year of his current Honda contract or the rumoured shock switch to join his brother at Gresini Ducati.

Talk of leaving Honda seemed to cool as the Misano weekend went on, but might the apparent lack of a technical breakthrough on Monday mean Marquez reconsiders?

Following Sunday’s San Marino MotoGP, riders and teams are back in action at Misano for a day of official testing.

Much attention will be focused on the debut of 2024 prototypes from Yamaha and Honda, whose star riders Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez have been pushing for a major improvement from their respective manufacturers for next season.

KTM riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller will test the carbon fibre chassis used by wild-card star Dani Pedrosa.

Riders usually start testing on their old machines, to get a feel for the conditions, before trying the new developments.

But Miller has already been out on the carbon fibre chassis and Joan Mir has tried a ‘Bradl’ prototype:

KTM engineers gather around Jack Miller after his first run on the carbon fibre chassis. #MisanoTest #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/dlGUkBbhey

— Peter McLaren (@McLarenMotoGP) September 11, 2023

Joan Mir returns on a prototype Honda #MisanoTest #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/L3laRd1o2Z

— Peter McLaren (@McLarenMotoGP) September 11, 2023

Meanwhile, Miguel Oliveira is fastest as of 11am, riding an ‘all-black’ test Aprilia. RNF team-mate Raul Fernandez looks to have his usual (2022) RNF machines.

The test, the last available to MotoGP race riders before the end of the 2023 world championship, takes place from 9:00-18:00 (UK time), with a break for lunch…

 

Official Misano MotoGP records
Best lap: Jorge Martin 1m 30.390s (2023)
Fastest race lap: Marco Bezzecchi 1m 31.342s (2022)

 

 

*Rookie.

Official Misano MotoGP records
Best lap: Jorge Martin 1m 30.390s (2023)
Fastest race lap: Marco Bezzecchi 1m 31.342s (2022)

Francesco Bagnaia takes Ducati’s special yellow livery to the top of the timesheets in morning warm-up for their home 2023 San Marino MotoGP at Misano.

However, Sprint winner and title rival Jorge Martin (Pramac) would have been quickest had his best lap not been scrapped for exceeding track limits.

VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, who finished between Martin and Bagnaia in the Sprint, was again second this morning.

Like Bezzecchi (hand injury), title leader Bagnaia faces a major physical test in this afternoon’s 27-lap race due to his leg injuries.

GASGAS Tech3’s Pol Espargaro was the only faller while Repsol Honda team-mates Marc Marquez and Joan Mir were left at the bottom of the timesheets.

The Frenchman finished the San Marino MotoGP, where he had started, in 13th, then revealed he we will be “focussing on the [2024] engine” but also have “new chassis and new aero” for the test.

“So hopefully we can take some positives tomorrow.”

Although upgraded for this season, Yamaha’s current engine is still not strong enough to run high levels of downforce or battle with the likes of Ducati, KTM and Aprilia and he has switched back to the older, smaller wings for Catalunya and now Misano.

But the M1’s straight-line performance was again exposed in Sunday’s race, where Quartararo spent the first half of the grand prix following the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and the second half in the wheel-tracks of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

The 2021 world champion even had a chance to test his theory that he would be much faster if he could ride alone.

“Same as yesterday, I couldn’t overtake any rider,” Quartararo said. “In the last four laps, I made one lap where I decided to just slow down to make a gap with the guys in front of me.

“It was just for myself, to say ‘I will push a little bit more’ and see if I was able to go faster and I improved half-a-second [a lap].

“So basically, I could go much faster. And the pace with the bike we have was quite okay. So in terms of my riding, I’m happy with how I rode today.”

But the overtaking problem, which cannot be worked on during a test, “is a problem we’ve had for years and years.

“Even when I won the championship, I said ‘we cannot win anymore with this bike’. And last year, we finished second, we didn’t win. But this year is even worse.

“When you’re much faster than the guys in front of you, you have to overtake.

“This is what we are struggling with, in every single track it’s the same. Especially here was even worse.”

All of which means Quartararo is only eleventh in the riders standings and Yamaha fifth and last in the constructors’ world championship.

“I’m not enjoying. I’m giving my 100% but when you think that last year I finished P5 [here], two years ago I fought for victory with Pecco. And now we are that far [+15s]? It’s difficult.

“But I can be happy about my pace today because my pace was good.”

Although winless for over a year, Quartararo concedes that finishing runner-up to Francesco Bagnaia in last year’s title chase may have lulled Yamaha into a false sense of security over the size of the technical deficit.

“I asked since 2020 and 2021 for changes on the bike. But I guess for the Japanese mentality, when your bike is P1, you don’t want to take any risks. When you are second last year, fighting for the championship, they don’t want to take so much risk,” he said.

“So finishing in this kind of position [now] and seeing Yamaha is last in the constructors – maybe it will change a little bit. But of course we have to make big changes and I think we are many years in delay.”

However, Quartararo remains concerned that the Japanese management are not prepared to be “sufficiently aggressive… as aggressive as Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. They [Europeans] are much more aggressive and more direct, let’s say. If they want to improve ‘this area’, they have a plan to do it.”

Comparisons are often made between Quartararo and eight-time champion Marc Marquez, now winless at Honda for two seasons.

“For sure we are both in a bad situation,” Quartararo said.

Marc Marquez will also have a 2024 prototype to try at Misano on Monday.

The MotoGP rules prevent Quartararo from using any engine or fairing upgrades for the remainder of 2023, but the chassis could be changed for the remaining rounds if it also fits with the current engine.

Any aerodynamic developments outside of the prescribed ‘aero body’ locations, such as the rear seat unit, could also be raced this year.

All four remaining RCVs (stand-in Takumi Takahashi didn’t qualify) opted to gamble on the soft rear tyre, the only riders not to use the medium.

But while Stefan Bradl and Takaaki Nakagami finished last and second-last respectively, and Joan Mir crashed from 19th, Marquez wrestled his Repsol Honda to the flag in seventh place.

“Yes, [the tyre gamble] worked, until the last 10 laps where the soft rear started to drop more than the medium. But it was the perfect strategy. Honestly speaking I feel like I did a perfect race,” said Marquez, who held sixth during the middle stages, lost one place to Miguel Oliveira, then ducked a last lap attack from Luca Marini.

“We are still far. We still finished 13 seconds behind the top guys. But I took the maximum, I attack when I need to attack. I suffered and I was able to suffer in a good way, and I defended in the last laps, because a big group was coming.

“We chose the rear soft option because we need to understand why we can’t use the medium. With the medium we are losing a lot of performance, especially on the entry. And then if you lose the performance on the entry, you lose it on the exit.

“But it’s there where the other manufacturers are super fast with the medium tyres in the last races, and we can’t. We use the soft. I used the soft in Austria, I used the soft on Montmeló, I used the soft today.

“With the soft you need to play a lot with your body to get the traction in the end, and use all your physical condition. But today I suffered also on the physical side, but not because I’m not fit, because the bike asks a lot from me to try to manage all those movements.”

The physical toll meant Marquez suffered arm pump in “both arms! But not only arm pump, it was all the body. It was like when you feel on the limit of your body.

“I used a lot of energy catching Viñales, because I said, ‘I will catch him, and then I will stay with him until the end of the race with the slipstream’. But when I caught him I was destroyed. Even Oliveira overtook me and it was impossible to follow him.”

Joan Mir: First exit on 2024 Honda ‘the most important’

All eyes are now on Monday’s post-race test, where Marquez and Mir will get their first taste of the 2024 prototype, which test rider Stefan Bradl used (albeit with the 2023 engine) as a wild-card this weekend.

Mir, who hasn’t scored points since the Portimao opener, made clear he wants to feel an instant difference.

“Honestly the first impression on the first exit will be the most important,” said the 2020 world champion. “Because if we try a new concept of bike that they say is completely different, and we cannot [feel] something on the first exit…

“I would like to see something different, a bike that probably requires a different style. A huge more potential in some areas.

“Honestly, what I want is this. I don’t want small changes. I prefer one big change that helps one area [even if it] makes worse the others, than small steps in every area.

“[For example] if we get more grip but lose turning, I would agree.”

Asked about Mir’s words, Marquez responded:

“What you are looking for in a test is more performance. For me, it doesn’t matter the way to do the lap time, I just want to be faster.

“I evaluate all the things I try by the performance. And it’s what I will do tomorrow.

“Bradl was using the bike this weekend. Looks a bit different, the way to ride it. But the performance with him was not a big difference.

“But let’s see, I want to wait, I don’t want to be infected by the comments of other riders, I just want to try the bike, clean mentality, and try to give the best comments to the engineers.”

Marc Marquez future: I want to see a reaction 

Since releasing a Spanish football-transfer-themed ‘things are happening’ video on social media at the start of the weekend, Marquez has continued to tease the media over his 2024 plans.

But does he find all of the questions about his future fun or boring?

“It’s not bad. It’s part of your job and on Thursday in fact I threw [fuel] onto the fire a little!” he admitted.

“I have the capacity that all this doesn’t affect me on the track. When you are 20 years old then maybe it can throw you, but I could still focus on the weekend.

“When I have pressure or this extra attention I can give more. This was the best weekend of the year! No crashes and I was competitive, with what we have, 7th and our best Sunday [of the year].

“So it didn’t affect me but I am also keen to decide and to leave everything settled soon.”

“Rght now I want to see a reaction and facts.”

The latest rumours suggest that Marquez is likely to stay and serve the final year of his current Honda contract in 2024, albeit with cast iron assurances over a revamp of the struggling RCV project, including the signing of key staff from rival teams.

After all, if Marquez really does intend to rip up his contract and sensationally walk out early to ride alongside his brother at a satellite team, would the jokey off-the-cuff Thursday video really be the way he would choose to signal the end of a record-breaking eleven-year MotoGP partnership with Honda? 

But until the Gresini Ducati seat is filled, or Marquez puts his 2024 cards on the table with an unambiguous answer, anything is possible…

ESTÁN PASANDO COSAS!!! pic.twitter.com/sNqsxuNiDH

— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) September 7, 2023

In a repeat of the Sprint, Pedrosa found himself reeling in the injured Bagnaia but couldn’t quite attack.

“I’m happy. I really enjoyed this race,” said Pedrosa, who had finished seventh in his previous Spanish Grand Prix wild-card, on the standard steel frame.

“I had a little bit of a struggle in the first laps with the rear tyre, because I couldn’t get enough temperature. So I had a few moments already in the opening lap and was losing touch with the first three.

“Then Binder overtook me. Actually when I saw him coming I said ‘okay, go, because I am struggling with grip and cannot follow’.

“Then once I got good tyre temperature I was able to recover the gap I lost at the beginning. Then Binder crashed, so I recovered P4.

“I tried to be a little faster, started to go into ‘31s and I could see that I was catching.

“Once I was almost in the group, I had a big highside and almost crashed again. I lost touch once more, but was not far from the first three. I was thinking ‘if I can get close, maybe they will fight and there will be an opening. I can try for the podium’.

“In the last laps, Pecco was struggling a bit more. I said ‘one last push, try to be close, and maybe plan an attack in the last two laps’. I was right behind him. Then when he felt I was coming, he put in some last energy and was able to hold me back.

“So, very close to the podium. Again similar race to yesterday, just longer. But a really cool weekend. Thanks to my team and all my mechanics.”

Afterwards, it was revealed that Pedrosa had been under the recommended minimum tyre pressure for more than 50% of the race distance. Like Maverick Vinales in Catalunya, as a first offence he received only an official warning.

“Maybe because I was riding on my own I didn’t bring up enough pressure. Because yesterday I was higher and actually the feeling was better yesterday than today,” Pedrosa said.

Coy about the futuristic carbon fibre chassis all weekend, Pedrosa confirmed that the full-time riders will try it in tomorrow’s test.

“The bike performed quite good and one of the important things was to see the performance [of the carbon fibre chassis] with other riders, in the slipstream and so on,” he said.

“I can see we still have to improve some areas. It’s only the very, very beginning and we just decided to take this chance to put it in the race so that we can more or less have bigger knowledge about it. Tomorrow our riders will try.”

Misano was Pedrosa’s last wild-card of the season, but does the 31 time MotoGP winner have any thoughts of a full time comeback?

“No, no! It is even more clear!” he smiled.

^X Rider has improved X championship positions.
= Rider has the same championship position as previous race.
˅X Rider has dropped X championship positions.
* Rookie

 

Video of A MotoGP Miracle for Pecco Bagnaia 🙏