Fabio Quartararo finished the San Marino MotoGP 10th after starting 13th, but his Misano race was shaped by a fuel problem. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider said warnings appeared from the opening stages and that the dashboard readings became so erratic that he could not clearly judge his remaining margin. In his account, the motorcycle spent much of the race suggesting that it would not have enough fuel to reach the chequered flag.

Quartararo responded by reducing engine performance. His Yamaha had three power-map choices: the quickest, an intermediate setting and a leaner option intended to conserve fuel. He used the third map for most of the race, describing the result as operating below the motorcycle’s potential. The compromise was especially visible on the straights, where he said he was extremely slow. Even so, he reported a pace of 1m31.7s to 1m31.8s while managing the problem.

The leaner map did not clear the warning. Quartararo said it stayed on and that he was effectively out of fuel as he entered the pit lane. Misano is a relatively high-consumption circuit, but Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta said at the post-race press conference that they had experienced no comparable issue. The next round is at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, a stop-start circuit considered perhaps the calendar’s toughest for fuel consumption. Quartararo said he had not expected Misano to be so difficult and warned that Austria could be very hard for Yamaha.