“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”
When Oscar Wilde uttered such a comment, he was surely not referencing Fabio Quartararo, whose nickname - El Diablo - belies his bubbly appearance and infectious enthusiasm. Beneath his beaming smile and well-mannered personality lies a fierce competitor intent on making MotoGP his domain.
Talents like Quartararo only come around in each sport every so often. The Frenchman made his MotoGP debut with Petronas Yamaha and finished as rookie of the year in 2019 before his promotion to the Yamaha Factory Racing Team for 2021, replacing icon Valentino Rossi.
Quartararo had big boots to fill, and he certainly lived up to expectations as he collected five victories and 10 podiums en route to becoming the second-youngest MotoGP world champion in history at 22 years of age. El Diablo had announced his arrival at the top of the sport.
“Winning is the thing that I love the most,” Quartararo exclusive told The Mirror. “When you taste victory, you don't want to go back to the back of the grid. The motivation you have after a victory or podium is amazing.
“To win a championship is a long process; I've been working so hard to since I arrived in MotoGP in 2019. In my first two years, I learned a lot in order to fight for the championship in 2021.
“I work super hard to achieve my dream. Now the goal is to do the same again - so let's try to achieve the same as last year.”
El Diablo possesses the insatiable appetite for winning that only the greatest sports stars possess. His competitive edge is something the 23-year-old has cultivated after spending much of his early career in the spotlight.
Quartararo won six Spanish junior championships including successive CEV Moto3 titles in 2013 and 2014, leading to many fans and critics to proclaim him as the next great thing in racing. The reigning world champion is the first to admit he used to falter under the weight of expectations in the junior series, but I believe there is an old adage suggesting diamonds are formed under pressure - and Quartararo certainly has become the jewel in the crown of MotoGP.
“I dealt with pressure quite badly when I was young because I was injured and there was a lot of criticism,” Quartararo revealed. “It was quite dark, but all this pressure made me stronger. I now have a great mentality - I know what I want and what I am doing.
“I’m young but I have lived through and experienced quite a lot of things. While the results in Moto3 and Moto2 were not so great, it was a process to become really fast in MotoGP.”
His mature outlook is clear when asked about comparisons to six-time world champion Marc Marquez. After a brief moment of thought, Quartararo said: “It is great [to be compared] and means that I’m among the greatest riders!
“To be there, you need to work a lot because Marc, [Jorge] Lorenzo and many of these riders have been at the top for many, many years. To be compared with the greatest riders, you need to stay there for so long.”
The pressure of replacing seven-time MotoGP world champion Rossi - considered by many to be the greatest rider in history - could have led to further struggles on track. However, Quartararo won the season-opening race after swapping rides with the Italian, and it was clear: El Diablo had truly replaced The Doctor.
Quartararo, who listed his father and Rossi as the two greatest influences on his career, is currently tied with Suzuki’s Alex Rins at the top of the Riders’ Championship with 69 points ahead of this weekend’s Gran Premio de Espana in Jerez. Some have been surprised by Quartararo’s performances given how the Yamaha has performed in 2022, but the Frenchman spectacularly stormed to the chequered flag in Portimao last weekend to win his first race of the season.
Do you think Fabio Quartararo will retain his MotoGP world title in 2022? Let us know in the comments section.
“It’s true that we have some struggles with the bike. I think everybody knows we are struggling with top speed,” Quartararo admitted when considering the chances of a successful world title defence. “But in some tracks, like Portimao and Jerez, we will have a chance if we don't make any mistakes. I think this is going to be the most difficult thing, to not lose any opportunity to win, and I think we will not waste it - but we need to be super focused.
“ It's a process. You need to make great results in the first half of the season, fight for victories and podiums and then in the second half of the season, you can look at your position and see if you're ready to fight for the championship or not.”
A world champion at 22 years of age doesn’t come around too often, let alone a superstar rider hailing from France - but how does El Diablo view his own style of racing?
“I have an aggressive riding style which is also smooth on the braking,” Quarataro declares with a smile. “I’m one of the most aggressive riders but I can take corners smoothly, which pays off a lot on some tracks.”
He’s not wrong. With nine Grand Prix wins and a World Championship title to his name already, expect Quarataro to make MotoGP hell for his competition for the foreseeable future.
Watch Fabio Quartararo in action at the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez this weekend, live race coverage starts from 12:30pm on BT Sport 2 on Sunday 1st May
