Fabio Quartararo lamented after the Japanese Grand Prix that he “didn’t enjoy a single moment” of the encounter en-route to eighth, despite increasing his series lead.
The factory Yamaha rider struggled to make much progress at the Mobility Resort Motegi having taken the start from ninth as he struggled to make overtakes on riders ahead due to the lack of power his M1 currently possesses.
Having moved up to seventh early on after passing VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini – the Frenchman also taking advantage of title rival Aleix Espargaro having to pull into pit-lane on the warm-up lap after Aprilia forgot to disengage his slower engine mode – he was later re-passed the Italian and failed to make any further progress, taking the chequered flag in eighth.
Despite his struggles in Japan Quartararo was still able to extend his points lead from 10 to 18 over Francesco Bagnaia after the Ducati pilot crashed while trying to pressure him on the final tour, the reigning world champion admitting he was “really lucky” to not be collected by the 2021 vice-champion.
“I didn’t enjoy a single moment of the race, which was the frustrating part,” said Quartararo.
“In any case you always need to take the positives from the race and the positive is that we extend our (points) lead, but it was not a fun race for me.
“I just couldn’t overtake at all, the only one I was able to do was on (Luca) Marini and that was really on the limit because we touched.
“With the difference of acceleration between us (and other bikes) passing was not possible.
“I knew from the beginning (Aleix Espargaro’s problems) because he was meant to be in front of me and he wasn’t there at the start.
“I heard the sounds behind me, it was pretty clear that he (Francesco Bagnaia) crashed, it was really close so we were really lucky not to get hit as it was important to finish the race.
“We need to push the maximum over the next four races with a lot of points (available), it will be super important to do the maximum.”
