How Quartararo Turned His 2020 Agony Into Championship Glory
Calum Gill 15:02 25/10/2021
The 2020 MotoGP season could not have started better for satellite Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo.
The young Frenchman, although winless in the premier class before the season's start, arrived at Jerez with prospects looking good. He found himself with a good collection of podiums from his rookie season, most notably running Marc Márquez close at Misano and in Thailand, not to add a further 6 pole positions. Despite Yamaha taking a punt on the then 20-year-old, who had to that point only won one Grand Prix - that being Barcelona 2018 in Moto2 - Quartararo managed to secure fifth place in the standings, ahead of factory outfit riders such as Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha).
Fast-forward the clock to the first race of the Jerez double header in July of last year, and Quartararo found himself lining up from the pole yet again. Despite falling to fourth at the start, he benefitted from Márquez going off into the gravel, before getting past Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales to take his maiden MotoGP win. He repeated the feat a week later, taking a dominant second win. However, his form fell off a cliff when he won only one race in the remaining 12 races, with no further podiums. Quartararo would either be dominant out front, or would struggle towards the rear of the middle pack. He showed patches of mental struggle, where his head would drop like a lead balloon when his form dipped, forcing a further capitulation in his title bid.
Over the winter, Quartararo moved to the factory Yamaha squad, effectively switching spaces with Rossi. However, that wasn't the only change for Quartararo, as he announced that he had been working with a psychologist to learn how to focus himself better and how to manage disappointment better. "I've seen a psychologist during the winter, it's going well and I'll see again before the beginning of the season," he said. "To focus, I need to forget every single thing that people say. Because I know I have the correct people around me. The psychologist helped me to just focus on myself and not lose time hearing all the things people say that for me are not true, and I don’t need to give importance to that.
"Also for example last year when the bike was not working so well, I wanted to ride [and also] help the team to put the setting, help finding ideas to see if we can improve the bike. But my job is to analyse with the data guy and my crew chief, give my opinion on riding, not thinking hours and hours which setting I want to do. I need to disconnect, just focus on my job as a rider and not go in [different] ways. That's what helped me with the psychologist."
To say that this decision paid off is an understatement, given what has transpired this year. El Diablo, as he goes by, has looked focussed and strong in the head from the off in Qatar. He did not let the struggle of Jerez - where he suffered with arm pump issues, costing him the win - bog him down. His new mindset to accept what is available, rather than risking it all is why he celebrated finishing on the podium at a wet French Grand Prix as if he had won the race. Ultimately, this mindset is why he kept his cool on a difficult weekend at Misano, even after failing to make it to Q2 for the very first time in his somewhat brief MotoGP career.
It’s why he stayed level-headed in the manic opening laps, why he didn’t push any more than he needed to, and why he was in the right place at the right time when Pecco Bagnaia didn’t do as good a job of managing the pressure. All in all, his maiden title win felt like redemption for what could have been the previous year. Quartararo went away over the summer, rebuilt himself mentally, as well as physically, and, at the end of it all, he stands on top of the world.
