Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo completed his season as MotoGP World Champion fifth in Valencia’s final race.

After a difficult end to the year, with a fall in Portimao and a challenging weekend at Ricardo Tormo, Quartararo remained confident of the performance showcased despite the difficulties but very aware of the steps needed with his M1 to defend his title for 2022.

“To be honest Portimao was not really difficult, was just that we make a bad qualifying and we couldn't overtake but here was difficult,’ the Frenchman explained during a break from celebrating Valentino Rossi’s final race.

“Everybody says that this track is not a Ducati track but 1,2,3 pole position and 1,2,3 on the race so they make a massive step! So I'm more worried about next year but this is something I've had too much on my mind right now. I need to leave it to Yamaha, they know what they have to do, to improve for next year. We are the World Champion of this year, so we need to enjoy it.

“I'm giving my maximum always and I think you can see it. There is one moment where you arrive to the limit of your bike and I think today we arrived to the limit. To be honest was tough to understand how much turning, drive and power they [Ducati] have. Because I was behind Jack [Miller] and was just, I don't know how many horsepower they have but they have a lot! At the end is something that Yamaha needs to work on and is quite clear what we need to do. I repeat it a lot to Yamaha but I think they know what they have to do.

“I'm talking straight to Yamaha. So I'm not telling to somebody and Yamaha will hear from somebody. I'm telling straightaway to Yamaha. In Qatar I ask straightaway for the holeshot device, they could do it quite fast. Now I ask for many things with what we need to really be competitive because right now we have a lot of strong points, but we have a lot of weak points.

"We need to make a step if we want to fight a little bit more easy because right now I feel, even today, we finished fifth and I felt on the limit a lot. Let's see. I think that today we make a great race because I was feeling really bad and when you feel really bad and you make top five I think is a great performance.”