No Friday special as Quartararo laments ‘really tough’ day

It’s become customary to see Fabio Quartararo topping the timesheets on the Friday with a soft-tyre, low fuel lap aboard the Petronas SRT Yamaha but there was nothing like that to be seen at the Red Bull Ring after FP2 today.

Not that it was a lowly result for Quartararo, who ended his day with the fifth fastest time of all, but the man himself says expectations the Red Bull Ring would be tough for the Yamaha M1 – which is lacking in top speed – has proven correct.

Even so, Quartararo is more confident about his chances ahead of qualifying and says there definitely improvements to be made.

“It’s been a really tough, but we expected that this would be difficult track for us. I’ve been trying to push hard and to be on the limit, and I’m feeling good on the bike.

“We’re struggling a little bit in the first two sectors and will need to work hard on that, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what will be possible tomorrow.

“This track is mainly three straights but that means there’s three big braking points as well, and we’re working to get the best out of the bike at those points and on cornering.”