Quartararo: ‘I couldn’t escape, clearly not a penalty’

Starting from a MotoGP career worst of 16th place, Quartararo needed to try and gain as many places as possible on the opening lap.

But disaster struck in the same corner where team-mate Franco Morbidelli triggered a multi-rider accident in the Saturday Sprint.

While Morbidelli tagged Alex Marquez on the exit, Quartararo ran out of space between Marco Bezzecchi and Miguel Oliveira on entry to the hairpin.

Losing control of his Yamaha after contact with his handlebar, the former world champion fell and brought down the luckless Oliveira om the outside. Bezzecchi remained upright.

Quartararo eventually limped away, while Oliveira returned to the paddock in an ambulance and was later diagnosed with a dislocated left shoulder.

As the Frenchman made his way to the grid for the restart, and to the surprise of many, the FIM Stewards handed Quartararo a Long Lap penalty for ‘irresponsible riding’.

In other words, the same punishment Morbidelli was given for yesterday’s incident.

“I’m a little bit [bruised]. But nothing was broken. So I'm lucky,” answered Quartararo, before addressing the incident itself.

“Bezzecchi was in front. I was in the middle. And I could not escape this crash because, I just tried to brake and stop, but I hit – I don’t know who first – but then the bike of Miguel took my clutch and I hit the bike of Bezzecchi.

“I didn't try to make an overtake, I was just trying to stay on two wheels and survive the corner.

“Yes, surprised,” he said of the penalty decision. “We don’t see any reason to give me the penalty because I was just trying to do my best.

“Maio [Meregalli]and Lin [Jarvis] went to Race Direction to have some explanation. [There was] no clear explanation. From our side, we don't see anything strange [that I did] and I think it's clearly not a penalty, but it’s the past - and I make it twice!”

Indeed, Quartararo’s penalty woe wasn’t over after serving the Long Lap, which dropped him from 11th to 14th.

Having run over the outside white line as he rejoined the track, Quartararo was given another penalty. That then dropped him to 16th.

“I didn't even see that I went out of the line. I was just checking to see if a bike was coming. And I had to repeat it again,” Quartararo said.

During the Sunday debriefs it emerged that MotoGP riders will have a meeting with the FIM Stewards during the next round at Le Mans, with clarifying the perceived inconsistency of penalties top of their list.

“I would love to say what I think! But I mean, we will just have a discussion and see how it's possible to take this kind of decision,” Quartararo said, when told of the meeting, expected to take place during the normal Safety Commission gathering on Friday evening.

Helped by some accidents ahead, Quartararo - who switched to the hard front tyre for the restart, since he had no mediums left – eventually reached tenth at the chequered flag.

Penalties aside, the race again underlined Yamaha’s two main problems.

“In the warm-up this morning, I've never been that fast on a medium tyre, ’37.1 with a lot of fuel,” said Quartararo, who led the warm-up session.

“But we have these two problems: The time attack, but also today I was behind Augusto [Fernandez] for 10 laps and there was no way for me to get close and try to overtake.

“We are, for me, in the race, close to one second slower [than we should be]. In the morning I did '37.1 with a low temperature, which means for me our pace can be '38.0-37 high in the race. But we were not able to make [that] on any lap.”

Instead, Quartararo’s best race lap was a 1m 38.5s, making him the eleventh fastest rider of the grand prix.

“As soon as I overtake someone and I have a gap, I can ride a little bit better and catch the next rider. So this is the problem because I feel I'm fast, I'm riding well, but there is some situations that I cannot control.”

Quartararo, who was leading the world championship after Jerez last season, is just eleventh in the 2023 standings.

The 24-year-old will be back on track alongside his MotoGP rivals for Monday’s official test, when he is expected to try a new exhaust and aero parts but 'nothing major'.