Fabio Quartararo’s title defence took a dent on Saturday after the MotoGP Champion qualified 11th on the Monster Energy Yamaha in Qatar.

Having failed to secure automatic promotion during free practice three, the Frenchman was forced to fight his way through Q1 at Lusail, a prospect his rivals didn’t make easy. Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco and KTM’s Brad Binder challenged the Yamaha from the outset with the South African bettering his pace on the final run. Quartararo’s 1’53.654, set on his second lap of the 15-minute session, holding tight for the second and the last promotion place.

With his tyre allocation dented by the unwanted excursion, the 22-year-old set out on medium tyres for the opening action of Q2 before returning for softs for the final shootout. The strategy failed to pay off however, as the M1’s top speed deficit - 13km/h to fastest man Enea Bastianini on the 2021 Ducati - left both Quartararo and Franky Morbidelli at the back of the pack, in 11th and 12th respectively.

“Well, to be honest I feel great on the bike,” the reigning MotoGP Champion said simply after the action. “I just put myself on the limit but you know, I’m not an engineer. The top speed is something but I’m not an engineer. I give my 100 per cent every time I go on track. Today, tomorrow and until the end of the season, but yeah, it was tough.

“The only strategy I have is to push 100 per cent,” he admitted. “I have no other strategy than that. Whatever the condition, it’s the only way for me to be at the front so only one thing is on my mind and that’s to push myself to the maximum.

“To be honest on that track, we need just to make a perfect first lap,” he said of Sunday’s season opening 22-lap race at the Lusail International Circuit. “But then last year I was P9 during almost all the race and then I could overtake, but things change, bikes improve so we will see. What is true is tomorrow we will try something on the bike because on the pace actually I’m not feeling so bad and then yes, we’ll see, but is just giving myself 100 per cent. I have no time to take, not say a rest but I will push myself to the limit but also taking care of the tyres so it will not be an easy job.

“Like I said before, I’m just a rider that is on the bike,” he explained when asked if he was disappointed with the steps taken by Yamaha over the winter. “I push myself 100 per cent. Coming into Qatar I expect much better but like always on the pace I’m fast. Looking at the practice, qualifying practice, let’s say I’m not super angry because I know I did my best and I cannot do much better. So to be honest, I don’t know what to say.”

While top speed is the obvious talking point of the YZR-M1’s lack of progress it’s not the only issue for the Japanese marque.

“My feeling, basically, we know that when we don’t have the rear grip we are struggling so much and I think we have no margin to put more power in some acceleration,” Quartararo admitted. “So I would say the rear grip [is the biggest problem], then the bike is totally shaking, but this is because I put myself on the limit and when you put yourself on the limit, at the end, it arrives to one moment where the bike is not really stable anymore. So at the end if the bike is shaking and everything, it means I’m on the limit, but for me the main difference is the rear grip that is missing on the track and we know is a weak point for us. So I would say this is the main issue.”