With Yamaha suffering from low-contour conditions on the circuit, British Grand Prix Pole sitter Fabio Qualtalaro “can’t be optimistic” at Motog Place on Sunday at Silverstone.
The 2021 world champion took the third consecutive pole for the first time since winning the title at Silverstone on Saturday, and recording a new lap record.
However, his time leading the field in the sprint was quickly overhauled by the Marquez brothers, leading to just 14 corners and faded seventh by the checkered flag.
Sprint winners Alex Marquez and second-placed Mark Marquez told the media they hope for a strong challenge from Fabio Cartalaro, which Yamaha Rider agreed to.
However, he said the rear grip on his soft tires is “critical” and he doesn’t expect a strong Grand Prix when rear selection becomes a more difficult medium option.
“I thought I would be faster, but our grip was clearly really critical and I couldn’t get faster,” he told the media on Silverstone on Saturday.
“We chatted a lot, and that was a huge gap between this morning’s feeling and this afternoon’s feeling.
“And this is a bit of a feeling and I don’t understand why. So you need to understand this, especially on a low-grip track.”
He added:
“After the Moto2 race (and the Pirelli rubber gets on track), starting with the medium rear, everything has less grip and it turns out to be a clear, great situation. But we’ll enjoy the race and do our best.”
All Yamaha riders fought grip issues with sprints. This is said to be a problem with the combination that Cartararo emanates from bike and truck conditions.
“In the morning, there’s one kind of grip and if there’s less afternoon, I think the delta between the other bikes is really big,” he explained.
“If there’s a small difference in grip, for us, we feel it’s 10 times more than others, and we can see that the pace we had in the sprint is very slow compared to what we’re used to.
“We need to understand why it falls when conditions fall and doesn’t produce any kind of grip.
“The first lap, Alex Marquez passed me before the finish line. I’m not stupid and I know how to ride, but it’s frustrating to pass me in this situation.”
Quartarraro said the chattering issues he had in the sprint “jumped” him around the corner.
Yamaha cannot use all the power from the new engine
Quartarraro was still earning the top five results in the second half of the sprint, which ultimately held third-place finisher Fabio di Giannantonio with his factory VR46 Ducati in the bay.
However, he says this is not the new engine introduced in Le Mans, but a new, lighter aero update of the M1 brought to Silverstone.
“It’s a few positives, but when checking my top speed, I need to think that it’s much longer and the aero package we have is much lighter than there (from Ducati).
“But they get much faster.
“So I don’t know exactly how much horsepower they have, but I think the small difference they made with Aero from the Misano Test is a small advantage.
“So you can’t imagine how useful this big aero would be. Yeah, it’s better, but we miss a lot.
“Obviously, we can’t use (full) power because the mechanical grip we have is too low.
“One lap is fine, but in the race where Alex Marquez overtakes me, it’s clearly a place where I can’t pass.
“It seems possible, but I have never surpassed anyone in my entire career like that. But we cannot use the power we have.”