“It’s a disaster” were the bruising words coming from Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) mouth at the opening 2023 pre-season test in Sepang. Quartararo and Morbidelli left Sepang having occupied P17 and P19 on the combined timesheets, with two more days of testing in Portimao to try and figure out why they couldn’t get the maximum performance out of a fresh set of soft tyres. Quartararo and Morbidelli were struggling to put competitive time attack laps on the board, as worry for Yamaha started to become very real. “I don’t feel at one with the bike” was the noise coming from Quartararo heading into the final day, however, the final day of testing brought a sigh of relief to the #20’s side of the garage. But half a second is a mighty gap to bridge in this day and age of MotoGP™.

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