Breaking news
MotoGP Qatar February testing
"Disconnecting brain" key to test star Quartararo's progress
MotoGP Qatar test star Fabio Quartararo says learning to “disconnect my brain” has been the biggest factor in the progress he's made since his first premier-class run.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Published: Feb 26, 2019, 3:40 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The 19-year-old Frenchman, riding for the new Petronas SRT Yamaha team, had said earlier that the second day in Qatar marked his first proper “time attack” in MotoGP.
He finished that day third on the timesheets, and improved to second overall, 0.233s behind the pace-setting works Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, on the final day.
Quartararo said he was “really happy” about how he concluded pre-season testing, adding: “The work we do with the used tyre, we make 14 laps with a really good pace, still need to improve some things to change the electronics.
"But anyway I'm quite happy, because also the laptime, the time attack was really fast, and that was our weak point in the past.”
Asked what the biggest change had been between his test debut in Valencia last year and now, he said: “For sure in Valencia the first thing for me was don't crash, but now I'm getting used to the bike and I can disconnect my brain for one lap,
“I think that's the positive point we do between Valencia and now.
“Maybe we will need to work a little bit more on this area but of course we make a big step.”
Quartararo's teammate Franco Morbidelli had a “curious” start to the test as he initially lacked outright pace on soft tyres, but ultimately finished a credible seventh overall.
Morbidelli said he had been “struggling to tip the bike into the corner” in Qatar, yet felt he'd made progress in this area during the test.
“We've been struggling in a few areas, but we were able to - not solve completely the problem yet, but at least we were able to solve it in some occasions.
“We just need to put everything together for the grand prix.
“I would say that we put on a great work, we just have to put everything together to be competitive, in the race and in the time attack.”
The Italian is not confident the issue can be resolved in time for the opening race of the season at the same venue on March 10.
“We've been trying a lot of stuff, in some moments of the day the tipping in was good, so let's try to put everything together. I will tell you in two weeks [if we're successful].
“According to the data we collected, I really hope that we will be able to solve the problem we have quite quick.”
Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont
10
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dovizioso: Every bike strong in "strange" Qatar test
Next article Rins: Suzuki has given me everything I asked for
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
Mar 13, 2020
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Mar 12, 2020
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General Mar 11, 2020
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Fabio Quartararo
Fabio Quartararo 19th and angry: “I’ve not struggled so much at Sepang in a long time”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
14 d
Fabio Quartararo 19th and angry: “I’ve not struggled so much at Sepang in a long time”
MotoGP riders oppose fines for missing fan events
MotoGP
MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 mo
MotoGP riders oppose fines for missing fan events
Fabio Quartararo forced to leave Monster as Red Bull returns to Honda
MotoGP
MotoGP 1 mo
Fabio Quartararo forced to leave Monster as Red Bull returns to Honda
More from
SIC Racing Team
Vierge rejects SRT offer to make MotoGP debut at Aragon
MotoGP
MotoGP
Aragon GP
Aug 30, 2021
Vierge rejects SRT offer to make MotoGP debut at Aragon
How SRT can convince Dovizioso to join its MotoGP team
MotoGP
MotoGP Aug 26, 2021
How SRT can convince Dovizioso to join its MotoGP team
The Moto3 rider set for the great leap to MotoGP in 2022
MotoGP
MotoGP Aug 13, 2021
The Moto3 rider set for the great leap to MotoGP in 2022
Latest news
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 8 min
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 30 min
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe