Fernandez achieved his best-ever third-place qualifying position on Saturday morning at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Fernandez, riding the 2023-spec Aprilia, which won last year’s sprint and GP at Barcelona, took the lead on lap three of 12 and quickly pulled away from the pack by almost a second.
But on lap five, Fernandez crashed out at Turn 10. He explained that it was because he was trying to make up for a mistake he made at Turn 9, which cost him time.
“Now I feel a little bit better, but before arriving at the box I was crying like a baby,” he said after the sprint. “Honestly, I want to say sorry to the team. I did a very stupid mistake.”
“I don’t know why; I had a lot of movement in Turn 9. I lost a little bit of time, I felt, but I tried to compensate on the brakes [at Turn 10] and I said ‘f**k, I go wide.’ But at the moment I tried to close the line and I crashed.”
“It was 100% my mistake. I was maybe in that moment too ambitious because I didn’t want to lose too much time. But it’s part of the game.”
Fernandez had a successful Moto2 season in 2021 but has faced challenges since moving to MotoGP. Despite facing pressure from Joe Roberts for his seat at Trackhouse Racing, Fernandez remains optimistic about the future.
“In Barcelona, after a tough Friday, he managed a first front row – beating a best of ninth in Qatar last year – and said Aprilia helped him to feel like he did in Moto2.”
“I think we had the pace, it was super easy. The crash was not because I was trying to get the track record, just I crashed due to a mistake. But I was really calm on the bike and I feel super comfortable.”
Fernandez attributed the improvements to changes in the bike’s setup and electronics. “For me, the main thing is today I can ride like I want and I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. So, this is what we changed.”
