world champion Fabio Quartararo “proud to be a role model for children”
Immersed in what has been his “dream since childhood”, Fabio Quartararo received the Moto GP world champion medal on Saturday November 4 in Monaco. He explains to AFP how the year 2021 has “changed (his) life” and warns: “nothing” no “no one can destabilize (him)”.
Since the last Grand Prix on November 14 in Valence, you have been making a series of media invitations, you have kicked off PSG-Nice … Do you appreciate these commitments?
These are things that I like to do even though I prefer to have free time. It’s important for my image, I was able to take advantage of it too. There, I’m going to take a vacation from December 7 to 15, I’m going to see Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi. And from the 16th I really start training very, very hard. I have a clear schedule and I know very well what I want for next year. I have even more motivation than for 2021.
Do you feel like you’ve changed dimension?
It’s true that it feels weird to be stopped by people in the street, asking for a photo. It’s still quite a weird thing, the rise I have had in recent years, especially in 2021. It has changed my life quite a bit.
“It represents something very big for me to know that I am and will remain the first Frenchman to have won the Moto GP championship. It is a huge source of pride.”
Fabio Quartararoto AFP
Can your title create vocations in France?
I hope. I am really proud to say that there are a lot of children who come to see me and tell me that I am their role model to be a pilot. These are things that really touch me. It makes me see images of when I was little, when I waited for hours to see Valentino (Rossi). It makes me very happy, and I do my best to be a model.
If we look back at the time of your title in Misano, on October 24, what did you think when crossing the line?
To so many things, even before crossing the line, because of course when I saw (Francesco) Bagnaia fall I knew I was champion. I don’t even know how I got to finish the last four laps. When I crossed the line I especially thought about the difficult times that I had, when I made a lot of trips with my father to go shopping (in Spain from 7 years old), all the times when we have made the most sacrifices with my parents, my family.
You were predestined to become a champion, but you had a hard time in the lower world categories. Comment have you held on?
In 2015 for example, I had enormous pressure when I was compared to (Marc) Marquez. I was 15-16 years old. All these difficult moments, all these moments of pressure, it taught me a lot for the future. Between 2015 and 2018, I did not achieve any results, or almost. So today it did me a lot of good for my mind to say to myself: “It is not because I had so many difficult moments that it is not going to do it”. That’s what made me very strong mentally.
Some competitors have emphasized this mental strength …
This is not for me to brag, but it is a chosen one that I work on a lot. Ever since I was little I’ve been a sore loser, and that’s a strength for me.
“When I’m on the circuits, it’s with the goal of winning, not to make a top 5, and there is no one who can unsettle me.”
Fabio Quartararoto AFP
At Silverstone for example, when we said “Fabio is going to make mistakes, it has to be”. I answered “ok, no problem”, and in the end I won the race and my opponents are 14th (Bagnaia) and 9th (Joan Mir), these are things, small details, but mentally I manage to be very, very strong and nothing can destabilize me.
Do you have weak points?
Mixed conditions and rainy conditions are not one of my strengths, it is even one of my weak points, you have to be honest. I’am aware; it is good to know your weak points and to work on them.
Proposals reported by Olivier Levrault / AFP