Quartararo ‘never made a mistake’, world championship ‘well deserved’ - Lorenzo

Former three-time MotoGP world champion with Yamaha, Jorge Lorenzo, believes finishing every race was key to Fabio Quartararo’s success.

Lorenzo, winner of the 2010, 2012 and 2015 MotoGP world championships, suffered just three race retirements across his three title winning campaigns.

When comparing the Spaniard’s first title to that of Quartararo, Lorenzo finished every race in the points, an achievement Quartararo is also on course to claim with just two rounds to go. 

While Quartararo can’t match Lorenzo’s 2010 win tally of nine even if he wins the final two races - currently on five, it’s the podium finishes that set both men apart from their competitors in those two seasons.

Quartararo only failed to finish two races in 2020, it was inconsistent performances which cost him a shot at the title - suffered four race finishes outside the top ten - an area which has turned into his biggest strength this year.

But while Quartararo was a ‘well deserved’ champion, so was Yamaha in Lorenzo’s view. 

"It’s well deserved for all parties. Yamaha has always been working a lot, the bike is always very complete, very compensated, and for Fabio, nobody expected when he arrived at Petronas in 2019 that he would be so competitive and would be a world champion," said Lorenzo. 

"People said ‘he was not very competitive in Moto2, he’s a talented rider but not very consistent’, but finally, little by little he improved and he changed a lot compared to last season. 

"He never made a mistake and finally, in a MotoGP world championship you cannot win every race, you always find a track that doesn’t suit you or doesn’t suit your bike, but in that case you need to finish the race, you cannot crash. 

"Third, fourth or fifth, it doesn’t matter, you need to finish the race. This is exactly what Fabio did this season."