Fabio Quartararo: It's Been a Long Time Since I Struggled This Much at Sepang

Pulse Sports Team 13:53 - 30 October 2026

Fabio Quartararo was at a loss to explain his disappointing performance during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix after setting only the 19th fastest time. The 2021 MotoGP World Champion admitted he had not experienced such severe struggles at the Sepang circuit in a very long time.

During Friday afternoon's session, the Frenchman ran off track several times while wrestling for control of his Yamaha M1 around the high-speed venue. The issues visibly frustrated the rider, with television cameras capturing him furiously slamming his fuel tank on the way back to the pit lane.

Quartararo ended the day 1.6 seconds off pace-setter Marc Marquez, languishing in 19th position out of 21 riders. Only Augusto Fernandez, deputising for the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Aprilia's Jorge Martin, who was riding through injury, finished behind him. The Frenchman's teammate, Alex Rins, took 14th place and was half a second quicker.

"Looking at the lap times, almost everyone was faster in practice compared to last year, so I don't think the track is to blame. But my feeling on the bike was completely terrible. I don't know if it's down to a wrong set-up or something else, but I didn't feel comfortable at all. Overall, it was just an extremely frustrating day. Everything piled up. I felt really bad. I wasn't able to push to find any decent pace. I tried to sort things out in both the morning and afternoon sessions, but it has been a very long time since I struggled this badly at this track," Quartararo told reporters after practice near Kuala Lumpur.

Last season, Quartararo enjoyed a strong weekend in Malaysia, starting from the second row of the grid and securing fifth place in both races. At the time, he was still running Yamaha's previous-generation inline-four engine, which has since been replaced by the new V4 powerplant.