Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo admits it’s “impossible” to stay motivated when seeing his competitors’ “very stunning” FP1 moves at the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.
Between his main title challengers Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia and Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati, the championship leader finished Friday’s only long practise at Motegi third fastest.
Quartararo, who barely missed taking the top spot on Friday by less than half a tenth, says it’s hard to comprehend that whatever he does on the Yamaha is “never enough” and that the gap between him and his closest competitors in time attack runs is “incredible.”
“Intense. But was quite good,” Quartararo said of his day.
“I think our pace looks not too bad. But to see the margin the others have compared to us is amazing because I was on the limit from the first lap and our margin is not so high.
“So, actually it’s quite tough out of the acceleration with the holeshot devices and aerodynamics Ducati has, it was tough.
“But I feel we did our best today and it was quite ok.
“Looking at the qualifying [time attack laps], we’re at the limit. Maybe we’ll be able to improve a little bit but the others are setting the time on the third lap, they’re above and honestly they’ve done something really beautiful.”
Quartararo responded when questioned if it was challenging to maintain motivation during this: “It’s hard because you know you’re doing your best and it’s never enough.
“You can do as much as you want, it’s never enough, so it’s hard but we have to keep it until the end anyway, until it’s over.”
Quartararo claims the abrasions he sustained in his Aragon crash with Marc Marquez didn’t prevent him from riding the bike on Friday at Motegi, despite being frequently seen reaching for his injured chest after finishing a run.
“It was a little bit strange in the beginning because it burned a little bit,” Quartararo said of his injury.
“But after the first few laps you adapt and it was nothing. So, it didn’t affect my riding.”
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