step by step improvement Yamaha M1 Fabio Quartararo finish 8th SprintRace Aragon 2024

Two years ago a battle between Francesco Bagnaia  and Fabio Quartararo would have meant a battle   for the championship. Bagnaia may have lost  the points lead in the Aragon MotoGP Sprint,   but he lost it to Jorge Martin, and his  battle with Quartararo was over eighth. Such has been Yamaha’s decline that it took  Bagnaia’s worst Sprint of the season, at least   of those he’s finished, and perhaps Quartararo’s  best to put them in range of each other on-track. “I made a great start,” Quartararo  told MotoGP.com after the race. “Also,   I see some riders that spin a  lot in front of me, so I tried   to jump on the opportunity to make  a great start and to make the best. “The pace was not super-fast in front  of us. We struggled all the weekend,   but at least we fight with great people, with  Pecco [Bagnaia] — I think it was years that I   was not battling with him like that, even if he  had one of the toughest Sprints of his season. “But at least we took the opportunity   for us to bring some smiles to the  people in the box and to myself.” Quartararo explained that to fight with Bagnaia   meant he had to be on the limit of  the capabilities of his Yamaha M1. “I was clearly on the limit,” he  said. “I was doing many mistakes   and it was Pecco [Bagnaia] in front of me  so he was riding fast. I was struggling a   lot to try and overtake, and  on the last lap I could try. “So, it was positive and hopefully we can  bring some great movement also tomorrow.” Quartararo and Yamaha had made changes  compared to Friday, but Quartararo put   his result down more to the struggles of  others rather than his own improvement. “We see clearly in the qualifying that  we were super-far,” Quartararo said.   “In the race, the pace was not better but just the  same and maybe some riders struggle a little bit,   we were doing many mistakes. But at least we  are giving our best and today was a fun one   for us.