Quartararo: MotoGP title pressure on factory riders, not me

Quartararo recorded his worst MotoGP finish on Sunday at the Aragon Grand Prix as an issue with an “out of control” tyre pressure in his front medium tyre dropped him to 18th.

With Suzuki’s Joan Mir third, Quartararo has lost the championship lead again and is now six points behind the Spaniard, with the pair as well as Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso now covered by just 15 points.

Having led the championship by 10 points ahead of the Aragon round, Quartararo insists his “disaster day” hasn’t added pressure on him in the title race as “I’m not in a factory team”.

“Of course, I’m really happy that [Alex] Rins won, [Danilo] Petrucci in Le Mans,” he replied on Sunday when asked if title outsiders winning races was a relief for him. But in the end what is important is our own results. 

“Today was a disaster day, but I’m sad to say this but would have been even worse if Mir had won, Maverick second, Dovi third.

“But in our negative we need to think about the small positive and the positive we had today was that both Alex’s [Rins and Marquez] finish in front of Joan.

“But in the end, the pressure is not really on me. I was leading the championship, but the team was born last year, it’s my second year and I’m not in the factory team. 

“At the end, the pressure is on the factory riders. So, I’m feeling good. Just a tough race with a technical problem, but I’m feeling ok. So, it could have been worse.”

Dovizioso, who was seventh at Aragon, believes the Suzuki’s will be hard to beat in the final races, while Mir insists he doesn’t care about the championship as much as other riders do at this stage.

When asked what the Suzuki is doing better at Aragon than the Yamaha, Quartararo explained: “For me the Suzuki, the consistency of the tyre is much better than us and we have a little bit more in the first laps.

“For qualifying we have a good lap, but Alex Rins was so fast [in the race] and he won. 

“They have found initial grip today for the first lap, and they are really fast.

“This is why they make this kind of result: Podium, podium, podium, so it looks like they are having a good time.”