Fabio Quartararo, having completed a hat trick of pole positions, led the British Gran Prix race for 11 laps around the Silverstone circuit before a technical problem with his ride height device caused the factory Yamaha rider to retire from the race on lap 12.
Quartararo could audibly be heard screaming and crying in heartbreak at the side of the track as the race continued without him. This would have been his first grand prix win since 2022.
After the race, speaking to the media including Superbike News, and emotional Fabio walked us through the moments leading up to the technical issues and when asked “does this give you hope for future races?” Fabio was moved to tears before answering “of course it give me hope…”
“But F*ck it’s so sh*t what happened today because we improved the bike and everything is going in a good way we know we are fast.”
Speaking about his ride height device stuck in its engaged position, Quartararo said this ” I knew that to go fast today I had to brake like hell and this is what I did from the first lap, braking super late don’t use so much rear tyre. I managed in a really good way because one lap Bezzecchi took me four tenth or three tenths and the next lap I just responded and could ride really well”
“But we had an issue with the device that remained blocked on the rear and its a big shame because I never felt that good since a long time ago and everything was under control.
Quartararo went on to detail what his best friend, Thomas Maubant, said to him after the race as seen on the screens:
“He was just telling me that today i was clearly the fastest” He also went on to say, more upbeat, that ” We are coming back, I don’t know when will be the next time, but there will be tracks where we will struggle more, there will be tracks like here when we went fast. So, we are in a good way.”
It is worth mentioning that ALL the Yamaha’s had a relatively positive weekend at Silverstone with 3 Yamaha’s making Q2 for the first time since 2021. Jack Miller finished the Grand Prix race 7th, Alex Rins 13th and Miguel Oliveira just outside the points in 16th.
