'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Fabio Quartararo could not take much joy from securing his second podium of the season at the Indian GP as the race exposed the bike's weak points. The French rider had an impressive weekend in India.
For a change, Quartararo was able to qualify inside the top 10. While challenging the top three Ducatis was out of the question, he was still able to stay consistent and benefit from other riders crashing. After the first lap, Quartararo was P5 in the race but by the end of it, he was on the podium.
With Marc Marquez on his Honda and Francesco Bagnaia on his Ducati crashing out, Fabio Quartararo was up to P3 on the last lap of the race. When Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin missed his braking point, it helped Quartararo to get a jump on him. However, with the Yamaha struggling out of the traction zones, Martin was able to swoop around the outside and get the position back.
While Quartararo was happy with the podium, he felt there was still so much work left to do for Yamaha to get better.
"Was really difficult to be honest. Especially the last lap. I was always one-and-a-half/two seconds away from the top guys that were Pecco and Jorge. Marco [Bezzecchi] was really far away. But on the last lap I could really see our weak point more and more," he told MotoGP.com.
"We have to work on that part and hopefully we can make a step next year. We can’t really fight with them. We can hold the pace but we cannot really fight," Quartararo added.
Fabio Quartararo on the issue with Jorge Martin's overalls
During the race, Jorge Martin's overalls started to come off as the zipper was getting undone. As part of the regulations, no rider should race with his overalls not on properly. During the race, Martin was able to pull the zipper up while being chased by Fabio Quartararo.
Shedding light on the entire incident, and his mini-battle with Martin, Quartararo said:
"I saw that he was doing something strange with the leathers and thought it was maybe arm pump or something. But I could see what happened to him. The drive I had out of turn five was super bad. I was spinning like hell."
"I was trying to control it with the gas but unfortunately I had nothing more on the tyre. With the grip issues we are having I could not give more of a fight. Also going into turn ten I didn’t have the confidence. But I can be happy. Marco was on another level and yesterday Jorge won the sprint race; we weren’t able to really fight but we are getting closer," he added.
The race in India was Quartararo's second podium of the season. The Yamaha rider will be hoping he can grab a few more by the end of the season.
