Fabio Quartararo is eyeing a similar championship change-around that new points leader Francesco Bagnaia has enjoyed since crashing out in June’s German Grand Prix.
The Yamaha rider held a stout 91-point advantage over the Ducati ace following the Italian’s fourth DNF of the year, though a crash for Quartararo in the very next race at Assen that caused his first non-score of 2022 – contrasted by Bagnaia scoring a third win of the term – began a complete championship turn-around that has seen him demolish Quartararo’s disadvantage as the Frenchman has struggled with an underpowered M1.
Bagnaia finally moved into the series lead with a third place finish in the Australian Grand Prix as Quartararo failed to score for the second straight event after crashing at Turn 2, the former now holding a 14-point lead in the standings with just two races to go.
Quartararo admitted that he “pushed too much” while trying to recover from the early mistake at Turn 4 that dropped him from the top ten all the way to 22nd, though was hopeful that a similar momentum change that Bagnaia has enjoyed since the summer break could still help him to take a second-straight title.
“I tried to push forward and was able to overtake three riders but I pushed too much in Turn 2 and made a mistake, so let’s see how we can handle the next ones,” explained Quartararo.
“I think Malaysia is a good track and I like it, so we’ll see what we can do.
“It (championship) changed for him (Bagnaia) since the Sachsenring so it can also change around for us in the last two.
“I feel we can achieve a great two last races, we need to focus and work well but it could work out for either of us.”
Quartararo reckoned that a strong tailwind on the approach to Turn 4 was the catalyst for the mistake that severely compromised his Phillip Island run, adding that he was focussing on “enjoying” the last two contests.
“I was struggling a lot in Turn 4 as I already made a mistake at the start of the race,” continued Quartararo.
“There was quite a strong tailwind that pushed me (on entry to Turn 4) quite fast and I made a mistake, but I think it will be important to analyse well but I think I already know what happened before we head to Malaysia with full motivation.
“A change of strategy is difficult, we just need to do our best and try enjoy it because the last races I couldn’t really enjoy anything, having fun in the last two races will be the most important thing because when I enjoy I know I can go fast.”
