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After a difficult title defence year in 2022 that saw him lose his crown to Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, Quartararo was clear in his comments to Yamaha for the winter that it had to make big gains with the top speed of its M1.
A new engine tested at Sepang on Friday left Quartararo and Yamaha second on the top speed charts at 334.3km/h compared to Ducati’s 336.4km/h.
But the Yamaha rider also had various parts to try, including new chassis and aerodynamics, which he admits made the first day “a bit of a mess” as he had never had so much to test before in his MotoGP career.
“I mean, today was the day where we tried many things but couldn’t really see if it was better or not,” Quartararo said of his 2023 Yamaha package.
“We tried a new chassis; the response was pretty clear. We tried a new engine; the response was pretty clear. Also the aerodyn …