Fabio Quartararo reckons his third place at the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix is his best performance so far, a track the M1 Yamaha was expected to struggle.
The Japanese machine’s straight line struggles have been broadly illustrated so far this season as chief rivals Honda and Ducati have routinely blasted past the Yamaha’s with relative ease at a variety of circuits.
The 4.5km Red Bull Ring is largely made up of slow corners leading onto long straights, key areas where the M1 has struggled over the last couple of years.
The Petronas SRT satellite rider managed to take the lead after both Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez ran wide while battling on the first lap at Turn 3, but was soon closed down.
Dovizioso was the first to make a move, moving ahead on the run to Turn 1 before Marquez followed just seconds later on the run down to Turn 3, both riders driving past Quartararo in a straight line.
His pace was strong afterwards though as he inched away from factory Yamaha men Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales, taking the chequered flag just over six seconds down on race winner Dovizioso.
“That’s my most special podium so far, because this track for us is the most difficult for our bike as you could see when Dovizioso overtook me, I got a really good exit but when he got to fourth gear he began to pull away a lot,” said Quartararo.
“I didn’t expect to have this pace during the race because I was quite fast, and of course I’m really proud to be the first Yamaha so it’s great what the team has done and what I’ve done in the race so hopefully we can keep this up.”
Quartararo expects that the Yamaha should go better around the fast and flowing Silverstone that is next up on the schedule in a fortnights time, the fast sweepers found at the British venue having always been a strong area for the bike in the past.
“I’m really looking forward to Silverstone which should be a good track for the Yamaha, there are more corners and less straights,” explained Quartararo.
“I’m feeling really good with the bike and the Brno test with the carbon forks was really positive as they give me really good feedback and therefore confidence, so I look forward to Silverstone.”
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