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After spending most of the race behind Pol Espargaró, MotoGP title contender Fabio Quartararo finally overtook the KTM rider for what had become third place, on the penultimate lap.
But his joy for the podium was short-lived when, to his surprise, a long lap penalty appeared on his board.
The penalty was for exceeding the limits of the track, which means that Quartararo had passed the curbs and green paint more than 5 times during the race.
Since it can be difficult for a rider to know if the limits of the track have been exceeded, a warning is sent, via a message on the board, after 3 infractions.
But the frustrated Petronas Yamaha star insisted he received no such warning, after which he would have been ‘more careful’.
“Unfortunately, I received the long lap penalty, but the race management did not send me any warning messages from the track. So I was a bit surprised,” said Quartararo.
“Normally, when you exceed the track limits 3 times, you have a warning. And when you have a warning about the track limits, you are much more careful. I didn’t see any warning.
“This is something they have to work on because when you see a race you see that they send a message on television. But you [the rider] you don’t watch tv!
“So for me this is their mistake, but I also went to the green 5 times, so it is also my mistake.
“But you must have a track limits warning because the last two track limits my front wheel was 1mm on the green, so you don’t even know if you’re on the green or not.”
“I was just [thinking] if I did too many limits on the track, I would get a message and then I would have taken much more care in the last laps.
“I didn’t get anything. We tested all the systems, radios and everything, but in the end it’s not that good [communication] on your side. “
Maybe Quartararo missed the warning message sent to his board?
“I’m looking at the board three times a lap, so this is something I would surely see, also because you have an orange light on the board. Normally, when someone sends you a message, you see it directly. This is something Race Direction would send. But it’s like that and I can’t say anything. “
Because Quartararo accepts that he exceeded the track limits, he said there is no point in trying to appeal the lack of a warning message. However, you could ask your team to display it on their pit board in the future.
“I didn’t get the message from Race Direction, but it’s not something to appeal because like I said I went over the track limits 5 times. But maybe next time I’ll ask the team to put something on the pit board to be sure. “. he said.
“I’m very frustrated because when you have a warning on the track you take much more care and I didn’t have anything so I was riding as usual. We are all at the limit and if you go out a little bit, we can all”. to make mistakes “.
At the time he received the penalty message, on the last lap, Quartararo said it was too late to take the long lap and instead received a three-second penalty after the race, leaving him behind Espargaró. to fourth place.
But even if he had seen the penalty before, Quartararo felt there was little difference: “If you get a long lap at the end of a race, you can get the time penalty. It’s basically the same.”
As well as missing his first podium since a double win at the Jerez season opener, the three lost points also denied Quartararo a chance to regain the title lead.
Instead, he’s now one point behind Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and tied with Sunday’s race winner Maverick Vinales heading into the second half of the season, which starts in Catalunya next weekend.
“For me it was a good race. The goal was to finish on the podium and for me it is like a third place,” he said. “Okay, we don’t have 16 points, but I’m happy because I fought until the end to get on the podium. I was really disappointed not to be there.
“I felt good on the bike, but not very good. It was very difficult for me to overtake.
“Pol was struggling a lot on the rear tire. I saw him slip a lot. But he had a lot more power than us, so he was getting a bit of use and braking so late. That’s why he kept us there.”
“Joan [Mir, 2nd] It was the same, in turn 1 he got a good acceleration with the Suzuki engine and approached [Pol] and could reach it. We never had the opportunity to be so close. I passed Pol in Turn 3, which was one of the strangest overtakings I have done because it is not a corner to pass. But it is the path that we have to advance. Not so easy.”
Quartararo believes that the overall difficulty in overtaking with Yamaha is also the reason why all of the M1 victories this season have been from riders who were in the lead from the opening laps.
“I won both of my races like this, like Franco, like Maverick. So as soon as you’re behind someone who has a little, well, a lot more engine than you, you can’t improve.
“I’m happy for Maverick because he deserves it and let’s see Barcelona. It’s a track that I love, but it has a 1km straight. So I don’t know what to think.
“There are three straights here that we got to in 5th or 6th gear. In the end, Barcelona just has one big, big straight. It’s more about cornering speed and turning, so I cross my fingers and in any case I’ll do my best me to Portimao. “
His teammate Franco Morbidelli, winner the previous weekend, finished in ninth place after being cut by the Aprilia crash of Aleix Espargaró on lap 1.
