Quartararo: MotoGP stewards seem like they 'have never raced bikes'

Quartararo was unlucky to retire from Saturday’s sprint race at Mugello on lap two of 11 when Miguel Oliveira crashed his Trackhouse Aprilia in front of him at Turn 10 following a failed attempt to overtake the Frenchman, leaving the former with nowhere to go.

The 2021 champion went down with Oliveira into the right-hander and retired immediately, bringing a premature end to a Saturday in which he couldn't convert his strong practice pace into a top 10 qualifying position.

Following his exit from the sprint, Quartararo went to the stewards to get their views on the incident, which was eventually dismissed as a racing incident, but returned feeling that MotoGP’s officials weren’t up to the task.

“I wanted to talk to them just to explain a little bit but I'm talking to [a] wall, to don't say any word,” a frustrated Quartararo said.

“I go out more confused than when I come. But it's not bad. You know it looks like I'm talking to someone that have never been racing, so this is sad and I think we have to get people more proficient.”

Quartararo explained that he didn’t want to persuade stewards to hand Oliveira a penalty, as he accepted the mistake made by the Portuguese rider. However, the 25-year-old hit out at what he feels are inconsistencies in stewarding and called for improvements in how on-track incidents are looked at going forward.

“I wanted to see the stewards not to get a penalty for Miguel, but just to realise that they are not doing a good job,” he said.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I'm not here to say he [Oliveira] have to make a long lap here [or] three-place grid penalty, but I have not seen any great move from them [stewards]. For me Miguel made a mistake, can happen, it happened to me, Aleix [Espargaro] didn’t crash and I get a long lap.

“But yes, for me the job they are doing is not great.”

Asked how the stewards responded, he revealed: “That [it] was a racing incident and when I did it, it was too optimistic overtake. So they play a little bit with the words.

“Like I said, I don't want any penalty for Miguel. We just have to realise because if I'm playing for the championship and this happens to me and someone is not getting a penalty, it's not the same.

“Right now it's complicated, we have no data for the race, I was not scoring any points today anyway.

“But it's just a question of improve how the system is working and we are not doing any step for that this weekend.”