'Aggressive but smooth' – Quartararo fastest in Malaysia
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Fabio Quartararo gave the Sepang team a dream start to their home Malaysian MotoGP event by leading both Friday practice sessions and breaking the official lap record.On a day when it was officially confirmed that the rookie will receive ‘A spec’ machinery in 2020, Quartararo set a 1m 59.057s to head a Petronas Yamaha one-two in the morning before delivering a 1m 58.576s on a new soft tyre in the afternoon.It was a perfect response to a painful Phillip Island weekend and means Danilo Petrucci’s 1m 58.239s unofficial Sepang lap record from pre-season testing looks well within reach on Saturday.”It is only Friday so for sure in qualifying – if it’s good weather – we will need to be [faster] again to make the front row. I’m happy to do the lap record, but it will be better to do in qualifying and then fight for the race,” Quartararo said.”Phillip Island was really tough and did not go like we expect; two es, one on Friday and another at the beginning of the race, so we arrived here with not a lot of confidence but we already made first [place] in the morning and then the afternoon also. The confidence came back which is good for tomorrow.”Quartararo, who has six podiums under his belt so far this year, revealed that the braking zones are where he has made the biggest gains since February.”The braking marker of February is totally different! I brake 20 metres further!” he said. “So a big difference but that’s normal because February was the first test of 2019 and we are now 17 GPs in and two in a row, so all the riders are very strong after this.”It is good to be back and to improve by more than one second.”In the test, in the corners, I was already quite fast. Today in the braking we know that corners 1, 4, 9, 14 and 15 have a lot of long braking. I think this is where I make the lap time, but also corner speed and exit. It is not just one point but all in general.”The 20-year-old, widely credited as the fastest Yamaha over a single lap with 11 front-row starts in the past 14 rounds, added that the M1 needs a complicated mix of smoothness and aggression.”I think we need to be smooth with this bike, but there is a balance between really smooth and aggressive,” he said. “We need to find the right balance to suit the Yamaha and I think we did it.”It is difficult to say exactly. Every time I ride this bike it is harder to find the lap time. In the beginning it was – not easy – but to make a good lap time was OK.”4″To be really fast is really difficult. You have to be aggressive, but really smooth! If you are too aggressive you don’t make the lap time. Too smooth then you have the lap but not fast enough.”Finally, Quartararo expressed his delight at getting the same machinery as team-mate Franco Morbidelli for the 2020 season.That means Quartararo’s M1 should start next year very close to the official machines of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, get upgrades not long after the Monster riders and have the same rpm as the factort throughout the year.”Yes, amazing news. We will race with the A spec in 2020 so really pleased and I think we deserve it. We made quite a lot of good results but of course I want to thank Yamaha, Petronas and the team”
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