'It's a waste' - Fabio Quartararo disappointed with Yamaha aero design for Cal Crutchlow's wild card at Japan MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo is looking for improvement from Yamaha as he complained about the team trying an aero design that he claims riders "don’t want”.

Yamaha’s Quartararo sits in 11th spot and his team-mate Franco Morbidelli is in 12th as Francesco Bagnaia leads the MotoGP standings for the Ducati team.

The team’s home MotoGP, the Japan Grand Prix, takes place this weekend and the Frenchman was relatively optimistic about his chances, though suggested there was little room for improvement.

He told TNT Sports: “I think with the facilities we have with our bike, with our power and everything, I think it’s quite nice that is a positive point but also a weak one that we can put the power of our bike already on the limit from the first day, but then we have no margin to improve.

“So from Friday we had the chance to go straight to the Q2, and that was a positive time and also our pace is always great. We had a great qualifying and hopefully we can make it again in more races.”

He went on to say he had met with Yamaha’s president in attempt to get a ride that matches his ambitions.

Quartararo continued: “I had a chance to speak with the president yesterday, so I’ve said a lot of things and hopefully we can make a step for next year because it’s going to be super important also for my future, and for them, so we have to be clever.

“I have the potential to fight for the victories, I have no doubt, but we have to improve what we need.

“I don’t really like to talk but sometimes I have to do it. I have to say what I want, what we need, but I prefer to see something and feel it than [just] words.”

Yamaha are taking advantage of being at home to field Cal Crutchlow as a wild card in order to aid the development of their Yamaha M1 for the 2024 season.

Crutchlow has not ridden competitively in MotoGP since the 2022 MotoGP in Valencia, and retired from full-time racing at the end of the 2020 campaign.

However, despite Crutchlow’s experience and Quartararo’s hopes for next season, the latter was unhappy that Yamaha were using a setup he believes the riders do not like.

“First of all I’ve seen Carl and his bike and he’s using a different aero that I tried and didn’t like, so first we start in a wrong way,” Quartararo said.

“So I don’t think it’s a good way to start out the weekend, but we have to change our mentality and be like Europeans and this is something super important.

“We cannot start a weekend with something three riders try and is not working. We still try to make it work, but if we don’t want it, we don’t want it. It's a waste so we have to keep working on something that really isn’t working.”

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.