Fabio Quartararo has given short shrift in reaction to criticism from Jack Miller that overtakes against both the Australian and Johann Zarco during the Indonesian MotoGP were not acceptable.
Quartararo gave his 2022 MotoGP title defence some much-needed energy at the Mandalika Circuit with a gritty ride to second position, his best MotoGP result in wet weather conditions he has previously struggled in.
Hot favourite for victory after securing a comfortable pole position on Saturday, though the arrival of rain prior to the second race of the season arguably scuppered those hopes, he recovered from a low of fifth at one stage to pick his way back up the reorder to second at the flag.
However, it wasn’t achieved without some critique along the way with Miller contesting he was unnecessarily aggressive in the conditions, both with him during the early stages and in a near-miss with Johann Zarco as they swapped position at Turn 1.
“Well it wasn’t a fight [with Quartararo]. I just passed him and he rode his motorcycle into the side of my leg. Quite clearly like he did to Johann [Zarco].
“I don’t think it’s necessary when someone passes you to immediately accelerate towards their front tyre. I will quite happily have a word with him about this because it’s not on.
“As we saw with Johann, you pass ‘okay, that’s fine’, the Yamaha turns well ‘okay’, but that doesn’t mean you open the gas and aim for the front tyre.
“I don’t think that’s fair. He rode into the side of my leg and I clearly had better pace at that point in time.
“I came from ninth on the grid and was faster than him. It was just an unnecessary risk at that early stage of the race to be running in my leg.”
“He better watch on TV because I did nothing wrong”
Miller’s pointed words appeared to surprise Quartararo when they were raised with him, the Frenchman taking exception to them coming from a rider who he says makes his own contentious overtakes.
"I don’t care! I don’t care because he’s the one in the past that has some aggressive moves,” he told reporters after the race..
"I think my move was also not aggressive, just I didn’t expect to touch. My touch was not something big, it was a really small touch and I don’t know if he watched on TV, but he better watch because I did nothing wrong.
"He was talking to me on the bike but I couldn’t hear anything. He was not happy. I didn’t make any strange moves.
"He overtook me in turn one and I saw he was going wide and I just crossed the line.
"I would also like to have the comments from other riders on if it was a non respect move or not.
“From my point of view, if I make a bad move I say sorry, but that one I have nothing to say."
