The Yamaha rider salvaged third in Sunday’s tense 20-lap Sepang race having qualified down in 12th to ensure the championship battle goes down to the final round in Valencia in two weeks’ time.
With Bagnaia winning the race, Quartararo’s gulf to the Ducati rider has grown from 14 points to 23, meaning he has no choice but to win in Valencia and hope Bagnaia is 15th or lower.
Commenting on his Sepang race, Quartararo says he knew he had to be aggressive on the first lap having watched Bagnaia go from ninth to second at the first corner or else it would be game over for his championship defence.
“The start was the key point, the first lap,” Quartararo, who raced with a fractured finger on his left hand, said.
“We changed the strategy a little bit compared to Australia, where we wanted to keep the tyre fresh for the end, but today I just pushed myself quite hard in the beginning because our bike is not super good at saving the tyres.
“I had to push three, four laps until I overtook Marc [Marquez].
“I saw Pecco was really good in the first braking, so I said ‘I have to do something, because if not my title chance will fly away’, and I made a great first lap – even if now we are super far away [in the standings], I’m not giving up and I want to finish in a good way in Valencia.”
Quartararo was hounded in the middle part of the race by a charging Marco Bezzecchi on his VR46 Ducati, the gap between the pair at one point dropping below half a second.
The Yamaha rider “pushed like hell” to keep Bezzecchi at bay and eventually pull away as he knew he would have no chance to overtake the Ducati rider again if he did come through.
“At the end, he was 1.5s then he came back to two, three tenths from me,” Quartararo said of Bezzecchi.
“But I pushed like hell because I knew if he overtook me and Pecco won, he would have been world champion.
“But especially I wanted the podium, so I knew if he overtook me I would be able to overtake him again.”
With limited options to win the championship, Quartararo says his main focus for Valencia will simply be to “enjoy” the weekend and hope for the best.
“I will prepare myself like a crazy man, because I know the only solution for me to fight there will be to win,” he added.
“It doesn’t matter, but I want to enjoy the Valencia race because it’s the last one of the season, then I will see how I’m doing. But I feel we have to enjoy the Valencia race.”
