“This season is by far the best.”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – With an early win of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship last Sunday in Misano, Fabio Quartaro not only brought Yamaha’s first driver title since Jorge Lorenzo in 2015 but also became the first French world champion at this age. Of only 22 crowned in the first class.

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Fabio Quartararo took the title in his first year as a business driver

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In addition, a fourth place was enough for the Frenchman in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a strong race to catch up with a 15th place on the grid after his only title contender Francesco Bagnaia fell while in the lead. The Ducati rider was one of the first to congratulate Quartaro when he drove to Park Fermi.

Bagnaia’s teammate Jack Miller, who also landed a promising spot in Misano, also congratulates the show. “He’s a totally deserved champion,” he says of Quartararo’s season. “He took five wins this year and was the most consistent, because even in the tough races he wasn’t bad.”

“So it was really worth it,” Miller said of the missed opportunity at Misano. “I’m happy for it, but of course we wanted to put it off as long as possible. It shouldn’t be like that.” “But he’s a good guy and I’m happy for him.”

Zarco: Better than Marquez for the ninth or tenth time

“Looking at Ducati, it was of course good that Bajnaya was able to postpone the title decision until the last race,” Pramac’s Johann Zarco added. “But Fabio has been more consistent this season than Bagnaia, who has been very strong in the last four races and has been getting closer and closer.”

“But Fabio scored well even when he had problems,” said the Quartararo native. “And I’m happy for him. It’s great for France to have the world champion in MotoGP. It’s been a great season. Respect that!”

Zarco also hopes to give this French offspring a boost: “Canals like those in Spain and Italy won’t be created right away, but we at least have elements that make people dream, and that’s a good thing. It’s better to have one French canal for example Marquis for the time. Nine or ten.”

Marc Marquez, who won the race on Sunday, also paid tribute to the new world champion: “He was the fastest, steadiest and best driver of the year. That’s what makes him the champion. He had a great season, he was always fast, very consistent, and most importantly he was able to struggle” .

Marquez wants to challenge Quartararo in 2022

“If he has problems, he can still reach the top five or even on the podium. We will try to learn from him and fight for the world championship with him in 2022.” Then Marquez hopes to be fit enough and have a competitive package with the new Honda to challenge the Quartararo.

That was actually the goal of Joanne Mir this season, who wanted to defend his title for 2020. “Of course I’m sad that I didn’t achieve that this year. But he totally deserved it because he was so much better this season,” says Mir. “So congratulations to him, Yamaha and the entire team.”

Valentino Rossi, who replaced Quartararo on the factory Yamaha team this season confirms: “I always thought it was the right decision to bring Quartararo to the factory team. But maybe it wasn’t a good decision not to join the factory team last year. (laughs)”

“Anyway, Quartararo deserves that title. He was always very fast and didn’t make any mistakes. In that regard, he deserves it and I’m happy for him and for Yamaha,” Rossi continued. He won four of his seven motorcycle titles with Yamaha.

Dovizioso: “He did something crazy”

After many years at Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso turned to the only Japanese manufacturer during this season. At Petronas, he’s currently experimenting with older specs of the M1, but it will be fitted with the latest factory materials in 2022. “He’s done something crazy this year,” he says of Quarteraro.

“He is very good at using the strengths of the bike and very good at not showing weaknesses. Being consistent as he has been in every race this season is really special. He has been able to go anywhere to be consistent because he can apply his driving style anywhere And every time on the track.”

“It’s not like it only succeeds on certain trails with a certain grip level. It’s fast in all conditions, in all temperatures, on all trails,” Dovizioso says. “He does the braking quite late, which isn’t difficult in itself, but he can still turn the bike around like he does.”