Roughed up i꧋nto Turn 1, the reigning champion nose-dived down the order from 4th to 17th place on the opening lap of a rain-delayed race.

But the big surprise was that, despite finishing runner-𒆙up in the wet Indonesian round earlier this year, Quartararo then dropped even further back, to 19th by lap 9.

An accident for Remy Gardner and re-pass on RNF’s Cal Crutchlow marked Quartararo’s only progress𒀰 during the remainder of the 26 laps, crossing the♔ finish line in 17th place, 34-seconds behind Miguel Oliveira’s KTM.

For comparison, Quartarar🌸o had been just 2.2s behind Oliveira in the Mandalika rain.

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Quartararo walked straight out of the Yamaha pits after the race and cancell🎀ed hi🥀s subsequent media activities, but said in a Yamaha press release:

"Rain fell at the worst possible time for us. We had not much wet track time before the race started - just a𒈔 few minutes.

"The first laps of the race were really tricky. I was pushed wide by Jack in Turn 1 and it only got worse from there. I was trying to find a good 𝓡feeling, but in Turn 4 I had a moment, and the visibility was really bad.

"I'm sorry for the Thai fans. I had hoped to do a be🤪tter race in front of them. We have an idea why we struggled that much, but we will investigate more to improve for the fuꦦture. We'll try to come back stronger in Australia."

Meregalli: 'Race was a gamble, championship starts from zero now'

"We did not talk to Fabio 🐲after the race, because he was probably really disappointed and frustrated and went straight to his office to cool down," said Monster Yamah✅a team director Massimo Meregalli.

"It's also difficult for us to judge [what happened] until we spea🌊k with him. We have to talk to him, check the data and see if they match.

"For sure the race was a gamble f💟or everyone, having done all the sessions in the dry and then racing in ꦗthe wet. But we did the same in Indonesia and performed very well. Here it was totally the opposite.

"The reason is unclear. We think maybe [it was because] the level of grip was much lower compared to Indonesia because if the tarmac iꦫs grippy we perform very well, but when it doesn't bite, for us it's a problem.

"Franco rode a decent race in tricky conditions until the front tyre dropped in the final🦩 stages. Having exceeded track limits on five occasion🎃s, he also received a three-second penalty that puts him in 13th place.

"Even the track was against us today. It became dryer lap by lap, making the mixed conditions more difficult for us. We need to understand why in Indonesia we fight for the win in rainy conditions and here it‘s the total opposite. We are leaving Thailand feeling disapp🉐ointed.

"The championship is starting from zero now and I think there is the only way to try to win꧃ and that's to𝔍 attack."

What went wrong for Yamaha?

Yamaha test rider Crut꧃chlow was sure that high front-tyre pressure was to blame for both his and Quartararo’s Buriram woes.

“I expected a lot more but as you can see today it wasn’t Yamaha’s day. We couldn’t le𝐆an the bike, couldn’t go around the corner. Too much heat in the front tyre, too much pressure in the front tyre," said the Englishman, who eventually finished 19th.&n♑bsp;

“The tyre pressure was just so high - alre♏ady on the first lap of the race.

“I was in a group with Fabio. Fabio couldn't turn the bike, couldn't lean the bike over, the front wheel was not following ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚthe corner. I had exactly the same feeling.

“🌄I had a high pressure the whole race. Way, way too high and we would have been and should have been better than 19th today. I knew already in the warm-up lap that this 𝔍bike was not going to be great.

“I had to push a lot with the rear because the front was so high pressure and so hot that I couldn’t rid🐻e with the front wheel, so I had to rid🙈e with the rear.

“I passed Fabio, he was behind me by one second or something. It came✃ down to 0.4. I was not 🥃gaining on the guys in the front and wasn’t going to be in the points so I left him past. But he stayed in the same position I was in before.

“Bad weekend for Yamaha all around. It’s unfortunate because I think if it’s a dry race, we would have all had good races, from our ꦓpace.

“But we expected more in the rain as well because Fabio was on the podium ൩in Mandalika. Then we come here ꦯand we are absolutely nowhere. And Fabio’s a good wet weather rider. So it’s a shame.

"The bike, honestly speaking, 🍰is not the best in the dry. As we know. Fabio's riding so well in the dry, he's making the difference. And in the rain everyone’s riding as good as what they were, but our bike [problems are] exaggerated even more.

"So&nbs🍃p;we need to improve it. Frankie had a good race, honestly speaking, bu🎉t he still finished 20-seconds from the winner.”

Asked who makes the call on tyre pressures, Crutchlow replied: 🍌“The wrong person. They should let the riders fix it! I know what I used to run. And I know what I run now…”

T🌼he only time Quartararo has finished lower than 17th since joining the MotoGP class was 18th place at the (dry) 2020 Aragon round.

The cause on that occasion? High front-tyre press🐲ure.