Fabio Quartararo's Story, Openly Expressing Feelings Of Fear When Replacing Valentino Rossi

Monster Energy Racer Fabio Quartararo (INSTAGRAM)

JAKARTA - Monster Energy racer Fabio Quartararo openly expressed his feelings when he found out he was going to replace Valentino Rossi in the factory team in 2021. He was worried that fans in Italy would not accept him during the race because Rossi was no longer performing.

In his first two seasons in MotoGP, the racer nicknamed El Diablo performed outstandingly with the Yamaha Petronas SRT satellite team. Because of his performance, the Iwata factory team did not hesitate to give a place to Quartararo in the 2021 season to replace Rossi, who is no longer young.

Not wasting valuable opportunities, Quartararo immediately proved himself in his debut season in the Yamaha factory team by winning two consecutive wins at the GP of Doha and GP Portugal 2021. At that time he managed to finish fifth in the opening race at the Qatar 2021 GP.

In the end, he won five wins and 10 podiums during that season and collected 278 points. This consistent performance also made the French star come out as the 2021 MotoGP champion.

Quartararo won the fight with Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati Lenovo until the end of the season where he ended with a 26-point lead.

Prior to all these achievements, Fabio Quartararo apparently felt scared and anxious when Yamaha appointed him to replace Rossi. Moreover, the legend at that time was still competing in the satellite team with Petronas SRT.

As a result, he was afraid to receive protests and criticism from Italian MotoGP fans because it was not the seven-time MotoGP champion who rode the Japanese factory team's motorbike.

"It was difficult and I still got goosebumps considering that moment. They told me on December 24. At first I was afraid, because Valentino Rossi didn't retire, but still in the Petronas team," Quartararo said as quoted by Motosan on Monday, November 6.

"I was afraid of Italian fans when appearing on the occasion of the Misano Grand Prix or Mugello, I was afraid they would criticize me when they saw me riding an official motorbike, not them."

"But in the end, everything worked out because I won the title and won," added Quartararo recalling his story.

Regarding the fear that arises, Quartararo himself does not understand why it happened. However, according to him, this feeling arose because he realized that he was not as great as Rossi, whose name was already legendary in MotoGP with Yamaha, where he won four major title titles.

"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe my only concern is not doing anything well, but not in relation to other people, but with myself," explained the 24-year-old racer.

"In the first half of the season, I had doubts about myself, but I kept working and in the end we managed to get satisfaction," concluded Fabio Quartararo.