Quartararo could only muster a 12th-place finish in the best of the two factory Yamahas in Saturday’s half-distance race at the Losail International Circuit, finishing almost 13 seconds off the lead in what was only an 11-lap contest.
Having already suffered all weekend with a lack of pace in low-grip conditions, the Frenchman also reported heavy degradation on his Michelin rubber in the closing stages of the sprint, which led to him losing a place to VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi on the final lap.
While the result didn’t surprise the 2021 champion as he had tempered his expectations heading into the new season, he described the issues with tyre wear at Losail as “really strange”.
“In terms of position I was not expecting better because it is the pace we had during the test, it is the pace that we had during the weekend,” he said. “But the way we finished was really, really strange.
"It's not that I'm negative, but when you see that you have such a big degradation on the sprint and that you have no other choice of rear tyre for the race, honestly the question isn't even the position, it's 'Can we finish the race?' It was really starting to get complicated."
Quartararo stuck with the medium tyre on both the front and rear of his M1, the same compound he will again select in the full 22-lap race on Sunday.
Having not gone aggressive with his choice of rubber, the Yamaha rider was puzzled as to why he suffered such heavy degradation over the course of the sprint.
“In the test, we had a little drop,” he explained. “I did a few laps [that were] much faster and my sprint race simulation was maybe six or seven seconds faster than today.
“We know that in the conditions of the test the grip is much higher and it is a benefit for us, but the drop we had today we never really had it, especially in the sprint race.
“It's 11 laps only. If I was with the soft compound I could understand, but it was the race compound and we had many problems.”
Quartararo had no logical explanation for his issues on Saturday, saying the extent of the tyre drop-off can’t be entirely down to a change in track conditions compared to the Qatar pre-season test.
“It's normal that during the test there is always more rubber on the track. Because we ride all day, there is always Michelin rubber. More laps, more laps, so the track is completely different to what we used to have in the race. But I never really felt that much difference.”
Quartararo’s team-mate Alex Rins languished in 17th place in his first competitive outing for Yamaha, finishing another three seconds back after 11 laps of racing.
Rins also raised tyre wear as a serious concern in the grand prix for Yamaha, having already reported a significant reduction in performance in the closing laps of the sprint.
“I was trying to manage as maximum as possible the rear tyre,” he admitted. “In the last five laps I was struggling a lot so I don't know how it is going to be on Sunday. For sure we will need to take more care of the rear tyre.
He added: “The tyre degradation was a limit for me the last four laps. But before these four laps I was riding not that bad. I would say it was not that big of a problem.
“But thinking about Sunday’s race, that it's double the laps, for sure it will be a problem.”
