Quartararo: ‘Pecco and I haven’t had a proper battle, it will come’

However the Frenchman, who beat Bagnaia to the 2021 crown but lost out to the Ducati rider last season, believes ‘it will come soon’.

“I never really had a great, great battle on track, one on one [with Pecco], because sometimes I won and he crashed, or I crashed and he won,” Quartararo told Leigh Diffey of NBC Motorsports.

“So we never really had a proper battle together but it will come. It will come soon and I think this year Yamaha made a great job.”

• Aprilia wings ‘make a big difference’, ‘on the shoulders next!’
• Huewen: ‘Marquez will pull something out the bag, but Ducati streets ahead’
• Miller: Bagnaia ‘changed man', Alex Marquez 'impressive, happy for him'

The closest single moment between the pair so far came when Bagnaia lost a wing while trying to dive under Quartararo at the 2022 Valencia title showdown.

Although Bagnaia went on to finish the race in ninth it was more than enough to hand the Italian his first world crown - having overcome a 91-point deficit to Quartararo earlier in the year.

“We got second [last year] but I’ve learned a lot, especially during the second part of the season where the others made a big step and we stayed pretty low,” Quartararo said.

“I gave my 100% but I was too frustrated, not enjoying and at that time I think I was thinking too much about winning, winning, winning. And sometimes you have to think about trying to finish fourth, or fifth.

“I did some mistakes, but from mistakes, we learn.”