Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo may be leading the MotoGP championship but his wet weather woes reappeared at Misano on Friday.

Completing the day’s two free practice sessions 16th in the combined times, Quartararo remained the fastest Yamaha - four places ahead of teammate Franky Morbidelli, with Petronas riders Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso sitting 22nd and 24th respectively - as the Japanese marque’s struggles with mixed conditions continued. The Frenchman potentially looking at his first trip through Q1 since last season.

“To be honest I’m happy about the full wet,” Quartararo said positively from the Rimini paddock on Friday evening. “Because this afternoon, straight away I felt really good on the bike and until we stopped, we were in P7. So I was pretty happy.

“Then as soon as it dries, if you can maybe ask to all the Yamaha riders, this question can be useful, because it’s like you’re riding a bike that is totally different. The bike doesn’t turn, the bike wants to pick up, the bike has no grip, all the defect you can have on this kind of condition is there. But on the full wet, I will not say super happy but we make a big step since last time we were here, because we had the chance to ride this morning, we had the chance to ride in COTA, and we make a massive change and was good. So, in the mixed condition I don’t know why we are that bad.

“Today I give my maximum to try to be on the top 10,” he continued. “That was the goal but as soon as we stopped, put the medium front, that I felt was time to go for it, the new soft rear, I was feeling so bad. I had no grip. We were almost one-second slower than the lap time before, with a track that was more dry.

“Basically, a lot of riders that were not super good in full dry, they make a massive step in the mixed condition so we need to understand why we are that bad on that condition. But not only me, all the Yamahas are struggling on that condition so it’s something that we need to find and try to improve.”

Morbidelli proved confident in the morning’s FP1, setting the fifth fastest time - albeit still 1.6s down on Zarco’s fastest - however, the Frenchman says his teammate’s pace was just down to natural ability, and maybe his familiarity with his local track.

“Well, I just checked his data where he was faster than us. This is something natural and I don’t only check him, I check Dovi, I check Vale. He was faster, nothing clear that made me change my riding style, just he was faster and we needed to make that step too.

“Every information is useful when you are the last Yamaha in those conditions. I think I’ve learned quite well, I give my maximum but something is going wrong, clearly, because on the mixed conditions we need to find something and on the full wet we know that the Ducatis are really difficult to beat - because they have the power when they open the acceleration. In the wet, you can feel it even more than on the dry.

“For me, I’m a little bit disappointed to not be in the top 10, but I take it like something really positive for the future, because it’s not every day that you have the chance to ride on the wet. This year we have not made many days and I think today was, okay, not the day I expect, but the day that I think that is quite positive.”

With insider knowledge now operating inside the Yamaha fold, in the form of Andrea Dovizioso, Quartararo has been utilising all angles in his bid to fight with his title rival Pecco Bagnaia and the other Ducati riders.

“Right now to beat Ducati, he explained me that it was quite difficult with our bike. So I think we don’t need to dream too soon, on the wet. On the dry I think we are doing a great job. I speak with Andrea and we know - well he know better than me that he ride a Ducati - but what I see from outside is clear that is also from inside. So we need to make that step, I think that we need to improve, every time we go on track we improve but is not enough.”