“I’M SCARED AT YAMAHA” Fabio Quartararo surprised everyone by revealing the real reason for his mistake at the Australian GP 👇👇
In a weekend tinged with triumph and frustration, Fabio Quartararo surprised the paddock by candidly acknowledging the real reason for his costly mistake at the 2025 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix: a poor tire choice that betrayed his confidence. The current pole sitter for the Yamaha Factory Racing team admitted that, despite setting a record lap to take pole, he let himself be guided by fear and an error of judgment, which cost him dearly in the Sprint race.
Quartararo looked flawless during qualifying at the legendary Phillip Island circuit. He set a breathtaking lap of 1:26.465 to take pole, demonstrating that the Yamaha team could finally compete on this fast and flowing Australian circuit. With this performance, we hoped that he could convert this pace into a podium, or even better, in the Sprint. However, when the lights went out on race day, the situation deteriorated.
His admitted “mistake” lay in the choice of the front tire. Despite his team’s advice to choose the hard tire, Quartararo opted for the medium tire. He explained: “The team pushed me a lot to choose the hard tire, but I opted for the medium. I made a mistake.”
He explained that his decision was motivated by his qualifying run: he had used the medium for his pole position and had not felt any weak points. “This morning I took pole position with the medium and I didn’t feel any weak points,” he said. “But this afternoon… the tire was like chewing gum, and for us, especially here, you really need the front, and we didn’t have it.”
What made this decision all the more significant is that on this particular circuit, and in the Sprint format, the demands are high: an impeccable start, aggressive first laps and a tire capable of maintaining its performance despite temperature variations and wind. The medium, which had served him well earlier, began to deteriorate rapidly under the warmer temperatures and windswept turns of Phillip Island. Result: Quartararo fell from pole to a disappointing seventh place in the Sprint, finishing almost nine seconds behind the winner.
His admission also has a psychological dimension: Quartararo did not hesitate to say, even to his own team, that he knew he had bet on the wrong horse. He spoke of the “information” that this error gave them before Sunday’s Grand Prix: “Now I see clearly that I made a mistake and that the tire we need is the hard one… So that’s good.” By opening up in this way, he gave a glimpse of the vulnerability of a pilot often praised for his composure and confidence. The phrase “I have a fear at Yamaha” may be dramatic, but it reflects his awareness that in racing, even the smallest margin of error – or even misplaced confidence in what worked yesterday – can be the cause of a bad weekend.
From the team’s perspective, this event is a timely reminder of the importance of tire strategy in MotoGP, particularly when weather, track conditions and bike handling can vary between the morning and afternoon sessions. Yamaha, which has sometimes struggled to get the most out of its M1 in certain conditions, will view this as both a warning and an opportunity. In his post-race comments, Quartararo stressed that although the mistake was painful, the pace was still there; it is therefore a question of maximizing this potential by making the right choices.
For fans and rivals alike, Saturday’s result offers untapped potential, but not wasted. Starting from pole position is a testament to his and the team’s raw pace. It is perseverance that generally distinguishes the winners from the contenders. By admitting his mistake, Quartararo may have slipped slightly back in the rankings, but he has arguably taken a big step forward in terms of humility and preparation. His ambition for Sunday remains intact: “We will attack hard at the start, we will understand the tires… the hard tires will be very important. » In the wider context of the 2025 season, where consistency of race results is the ultimate measure, this weekend at Phillip Island could mark a turning point. Rather than glossing over a misstep, Quartararo’s honesty reveals self-awareness – an essential quality in any championship-chasing driver. The message is clear: mistakes happen, but what matters is how you learn from them – and how quickly you convert them into results. It remains to be seen whether Yamaha will be able to react accordingly, but for now, the “fear” he admits at Yamaha is not that of defeat; it’s a measured respect for the margins of his talent and a motivation to be more precise next time.
As the paddock leaves Australia, all eyes will be on whether Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha will turn this near disaster into fuel for redemption. The speed is there. The potential is obvious. The question now is whether the right tire, at the right time, will finally achieve the result that their Australian weekend suggested, but did not deliver.
