The 2021 world champion anticipated a tougher weekend at Phillip Island a week on from his podium return at the Indonesian GP.
But Quartararo could only manage 17th after Friday’s running with a 1m28.937s, having ended last year’s second practice at Phillip Island in fourth with a 1m29.6s lap.
This has left Quartararo completely baffled, with the Frenchman admitting he has “no chance” of progressing into Q2 on Saturday morning in qualifying.
Asked where he is struggling, he said: “Our bike is getting more difficult to turn every year.
“I think we lose a lot from 2019 to now. That was our strong point, now it’s clearly our weak point.
“That’s the only thing we really had, and you can clearly see… I am one second away from the top guys, my team-mate is also struggling… really difficult to understand what is happening right now.
“Much worse [than last year]. Last year I qualified P5, two tenths off, but every day last year we improved a lot because the conditions improved.
“Right now the lap time compared to last year… I think I was P4 [in practice two], 1m29.4s.
“Now I am half a second faster and I am 17th. This is crazy, also everyone is pushing much more but I was clearly on the limit to make 1m28.9s. It’s a little bit strange for this lap time.”
Quartararo added that it is “difficult to understand” the inconsistent form of the Yamaha, having gone from a frontrunner in Indonesia to struggling a week later in Australia.
“I knew at Indonesia that I could fight for the podium just because of the tyre,” he said in response to a question from Autosport.
“The carcass was different and we knew it was something good for us. Here, we knew it would be more difficult but not as difficult as it is now.
“The tyre is not so much affecting us, rather it’s affecting the others in a positive way. Unfortunately we cannot be consistent for that.
“It was exactly the same in India and Japan. In India I was fighting Jorge [Martin] until the last lap, but [in Japan] he was a second faster than me.
“Then in Mandalika, I was one of the fastest, and here I am 17th. It’s difficult to understand the way of how we are riding and why the position is that much different.”
