Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo is enduring another tough weekend during the 2025 MotoGP season at Mandalika, which is in vast contrast to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.
The Indonesian Grand Prix weekend has so far seen Bezzecchi shine and Quartararo labour. While the Aprilia pilot scored pole position and also won the Sprint on Saturday, the Yamaha star qualified 0.939 seconds off the pace in P8 and also crashed on the last lap of the Sprint.
Quartararo fell at Turn 2 while chasing Pramac rider and Yamaha stablemate Miguel Oliveira for P11 on the road. Oliveira ultimately finished P9 to claim one point, albeit 12.988s off the lead as Bezzecchi won the Mandalika Sprint, after overtaking KTM racer Brad Binder late on.
Oliveira even profited from the eight-second post-Sprint penalty that Honda ace Luca Marini drew for a tyre pressure infringement, which dropped the Italian from P6 to P13. Marini’s 8s penalty made Oliveira the only Yamaha rider to score a point during the Sprint at Mandalika.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo cannot ‘understand’ his Michelin tyre problems at Mandalika
Marc Marquez ruined Alex Rins’ Sprint at Mandalika as the Ducati rider ran the Yamaha star, who ultimately finished P12, off the road on the opening lap. Pramac’s Jack Miller also came home in P11, 0.321s ahead of Rins, during a difficult day for the Yamaha brand in Indonesia.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marco Bezzecchi from net worth to race number
Quartararo pins a lot of his plight at the Indonesian GP on the Michelin tyres, having thus far been unable to find a set-up that suits the French manufacturer’s rubber around Mandalika. It especially stuns Quartararo that he is struggling to such a degree, yet Bezzecchi is shining.
Bezzecchi scored pole position for the Indonesian GP with a new all-time MotoGP lap record at Mandalika, having set a 1:28.832 with Michelin’s soft front and rear tyres. Quartararo was the only rider to run a medium tyre in qualifying at Mandalika, as he took the medium front.
Quartararo said, via quotes by GPOne: “We won’t use it [the medium tyre in the Indonesian GP on Sunday]. The medium is impossible for us to choose. So, I’ll use the soft, which I think is the best option, hoping for a better race.
“Bezzecchi set the lap record, he’s super-fast, and that’s hard to understand. The fact is, I’m not getting along well with any of the available options, and that’s hard to understand.”
Fabio Quartararo was the only rider to use Michelin’s medium front tyre in qualifying for the Indonesian Grand Prix
Almost every rider contested qualifying for the Indonesian GP using Michelin’s soft front and rear tyres. Quartararo was in a class of his own with the medium front for his second Q2 run during which the Yamaha star set his fastest lap of the session with a 1:29.771 to achieve P8.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats
But Quartararo fell into line and chose the soft front and rear Michelin tyres for the Sprint at Mandalika, and the Yamaha rider now intends to use the soft tyres in the Indonesian GP. His fastest lap in the Sprint of a 1:30.542 and Bezzecchi’s 1:29.638 lap both came on Lap 9/13.
KTM rider Binder was the only rider to use the medium front Michelin tyre during Saturday’s Sprint Race at Mandalika, with no riders opting for the medium rear. Fellow KTM rider Pedro Acosta also went against the grain as the only rider who took a hard front tyre for the Sprint.
Tech3’s Enea Bastianini was the only rider to take Michelin’s hard front tyre during qualifying and set a 1:35.487 on his first Q1 run. But the KTM factory-contracted rider improved his lap to a 1:30.242 after switching to the soft front for his second run, en route to qualifying P17.
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