In a grid full of more powerful bikes, the Frenchman executed his strategy to perfection: he took the lead in turn one, resisted the first attack, and tried not to be bothered anymore. With his third victory of the year, he extended even more his advantage in the championship and showed that his rivals will have to do much more to take the Tower of Champions away from him.
The Yamaha may not be the best bike on the grid - at least the World Constructors' Championship says it is not - but Fabio Quartararo shows more and more that he really is the best rider around. This Sunday (19th), the Frenchman from Nice took another step towards his second MotoGP championship.
Second on a grid full of Ducati - the fastest and, supposedly, best bike around - Fabio has been able to face the Italian power with a machine that has speed as its greatest weakness. This Sunday, for example, Jack Miller reached a top speed of 300.8 km/h, while Fabio did not go over 294.2 km/h. The lowest top speed was recorded by Darryn Binder, who was 282.7 km/h.
MOTOGP STANDINGS
▶️ Quartararo wins 3rd and extends lead into MotoGP 2022
Aware of the deficiencies the YZR-M1 has, Quartararo knows what he needs to do. Starting at the front is a sine qua non condition for a good result. And so he has done. With the exception of the Qatar GP, when he started 11th, the Nice driver has always been in the first two rows, aware that he needs to start as fast as possible if he wants to have a chance to win.
Fabio needs to show his cards at the start, because if he depends on a direct confrontation with the Ducati, the fragility of the Yamaha engine leaves him very exposed. The plan is to get ahead of his rivals at the start, set the strong pace he usually has, and then take home as many points as possible.
Today at Sachsenring, a sick Quartararo managed to execute the plan to perfection. Even coughing and sneezing all weekend, Fabio took the lead in turn 1, withstood Francesco Bagnaia's first attack, saw the Italian pay for his impatience, and shot to the top to win for the third time this year and extend his lead in the Drivers' World Championship to 34 points.
With ten races still to go it is too early to say that the championship is over, but it is becoming increasingly clear that if anyone wants to stop Quartararo's championship run they will have to raise their performance considerably, as the Frenchman put the screws to the top.
"It was much worse than in Indonesia, even worse for me, who was first all race," said Fabio, who faced a race in 35ºC heat, with the track reaching 51ºC. "It felt like an endurance race. But it's amazing to win at a circuit I never really liked. It was a very good race," he continued.
"The hardest thing to manage is when you are within 1s, like at the start, that you can push harder. Still, I knew that with last year's soft, it wouldn't hold. The tire got much hotter than expected," he commented.
In Sunday's race, Fabio went against the majority in his choice of tires. While almost everyone else opted for the hard rear tire, the #20 put on the medium, along with only Pol Espargaró and Maverick Viñales, who made this choice only on the eve of the start.
"I like to be different. Everyone was going hard and I knew that if we wanted to make a difference, we had to do it. The pace was lower for everyone and I was better with the medium," he recounted. "In the morning, when the Michelin engineer came and told me that I was on the medium just like Joan [Mir, who changed his mind and started on the hard] and Pol, my chief mechanic looked at me a little strange, but I decided to stay that way," he said.
MotoGP returns to the track next week for the Dutch GP in Assen, the 11th round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.