Valencia GP, Quartararo: “If I think about last year, I want to cry”

Having fought for the MotoGP world title only a year ago, Fabio Quartararo could never have imagined he’d be returning to Valencia as the ninth-placed rider in the 2023 championship. A dip that is not just down to the Frenchman’s demerits but also a Yamaha that is far from the performance of the European bikes.

To Valencia to round out a difficult season

Fabio Quartararo arrives in Valencia knowing that he cannot swing the balance or fight for the top positions in the standings. But the Frenchman wants to finish the season with good feeling aboard his M1, key if he wants to be able to relax over the winter: “I’m pleased to finish, but I really want to do well in the last race. We hope we can finish on a high and with good feeling, which is always better than ending on a negative note with little feeling”. Fabio admits that he feels a little resigned right now, with none of the positive stress of those who are fighting for something: “I was a lot more stressed over the last three or four years, the stress levels are a lot higher when you’re fighting for the title. I’m not fighting for anything now and just need to do my best and achieve the best possible results. It’s been a tough season, sure, and a long one with all the Sprint races too. Maybe we shouldn’t have those every week”.

Fabio Quartararo talks more about this, and the fact that at no time this season have all 22 MotoGP riders been on the grid together “It’s a big problem! I think it’s already a dangerous sport and as a rider I can guarantee that you can be a lot more tired after the sprint than after the long race, added to which the bikes we ride are becoming increasingly physical. I don’t think we need a Sprint every race weekend”. The Saturday race was introduced by Dorna as a way of attracting more spectators, and not only on Sunday, to involve more people: “We’re at Valencia, it’s the last race of the season and it’s always a full house here so why have a sprint? They’ve introduced the Sprint in F1 too, but they don’t do them every week and have now eliminated them for next year. I don’t think it’s right to have them, but not all riders agree”. Recalling the injury that has forced Oliveira to miss this final round, he adds: “It’s a pity - we do all these races but then never have all the riders on the grid”.

Memories of last year

Twelve months ago, the Frenchman came to Valencia lying just 24 points behind Francesco Bagnaia. A second title was unlikely but Quartararo still had a chance. Today, one year on, Fabio finds himself a good way down the standings, with very different riding sensations with respect to previous years: “If I think about where I was last year, I want to cry”, he says, laughing. “It’s difficult, to be honest, because every time you go to a track you remember what you did there in previous years. It was totally different in recent years at Valencia to how it is now. We have to race in a different way of course, but we’ve gained a lot of experience this year and are working really hard to return to Valencia as we did in 2022 or 2021”.