The importance of Fabio Quartararo's 14 front-row starts to this year's title-winning MotoGP ca🧸mpaign was evident at Portimao on Sunday, where the Monster Yamaha star felt he had victory pace but couldn’t overtake slower riders.

It's a problem numerous Yamaha riders have highlighted in the past, but Q🌜uartararo's exceptional qualifying form - including consecutive front rows from rounds 3-15 - meant he has largely been able to avoid the issue.

At the previous Misano round, Quartararo had sa๊lvaged fourth place from a MotoGP worst of 15th on the grid, but been aided by eight riders crashing out.

At Portimao, hopes were high of seeing the first real duel between newly crowned champion Quartar🌟aro and nearest rival Francesco Bagnaia as the pair dominated free practice.

But Quartararo managed only seventh in qualifying and while Bagnaia turned pole position into a comfortable victory, Quartararo struggled to pass other Ducatis an🐟d crashed out of sixth placeꦺ with three laps to go.

"When you are stuck behind a Ducati and you are just..." said a 🔴frustrated Quartararo. "Honestly, I could go much faster all the race. I could really have the pace of Pecco for sure.

"I remember he started 11th here [in April] and to o♎vertake was notও a big issue, but for me, I stayed 15 laps behind Martin, and even if he was riding one-second slower, I couldn't overtake.

"For me the grip was much better today, but to be honest, we are too far behind with the speed that we haཧve in that kind of track.

"If you make a great qu👍alifying, I was able to fight for the victory for sure. But if you miss the qualifying, you can say bye bye to th𓆏e podium and the victory."

Quartararo꧟'s accident was his first in a ra♍ce all season.

"To be honest, when I crashed I was on the limit and I couldn't🦋 make the corner, but I know that if I [went wide], I would have been overtaken by the others, and I just gave it a try, and the try didn't work!"

The ༺young Frenchman sent a clear message to Yamaha that engine progress needs to be their top priority🀅 for 2022.

"It's really a shame that we have these kind of difficulties, because the bike is so good to🗹 ride, but with this speed, you can't make any mistakes.

"Even if weꦦ lose in another area, we need to gain on top speed, because to overtake is just a nightmare. Well, we just can't overtake.

"Also, during the year, yo💎u can bring new chassis. You can have an evolution at the Jerez test, at🃏 the Misano test, in the Barcelona test, but you can't have an evolution of the engine.

"So I think they [Yamaha] should push so much and 🎶so much on the engine, because to be honest, for the future it's not going to be easy."

With Quartarar🌄o out, the top Yamaha waᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs Valentino Rossi in 13th place.

The accident also confirmed Ducati as the 2021 Constructors' champions and the Italian factory now holds a commanding 28 points advantage in🌞 the teams' championship heading i♕nto the Valencia finale.