Quartararo feels Austria MotoGP sprint penalty ‘undeserved’ after seeing replay

The Yamaha rider was forced into a recovery ride in Saturday’s 14-lap sprint at the Red Bull Ring after getting caught up in the Turn 1 chaos triggered by Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Quartararo recovered to 15th having tumbled out of the top 10 to 20th on the opening lap, but was forced to serve a long lap penalty for causing a collision with Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori on the sixth tour.

The 2021 world champion, who started from ninth, felt initially that he deserved to get a penalty for that – but subsequently believed otherwise upon reviewing the replay footage.

“Before looking at the images, I felt like I deserved the long lap,” he said.

“But looking at the image, I feel I don’t deserve the penalty. But that’s not my job, my job is just to ride at my 100%.

“When you are struggling so much to overtake, you have to find a way. It happens.

“Of course, I was on the limit, from the start to the end. It’s something that can happen, but at least we were able to make a good pace.”

Quartararo refused to comment on the Turn 1 drama on the opening lap, other than noting his recovery ride was “good experience for the future”.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

"You could see pretty well [what happened],” he said. “Turn 1 happened, and then in this situation you have to give your best to find your way back.

“But [Enea] Bastianini, to overtake him is a nightmare because he brakes super late, the Ducati has a big acceleration.

“So, I was riding supper slow behind him. Then when I had free space to do my pace I was almost one second faster.

“So, it was good experience for the future to see what we have to improve.”

The Yamaha rider added that he felt strong enough to fight for the top five in the sprint and believes this is a “realistic” target for Sunday’s grand prix.

“To be honest, I felt I had the pace to make between P5 and P7 realistically because there are a few guys who are much faster, like Pecco [Bagnaia], [Brad] Binder, [Maverick] Vinales, and a few other guys like Marco [Bezzecchi].

“But then I feel my pace is one of the strongest out of this four, so this is why I say between P5 and P7 is a realistic goal for tomorrow.”