And just like that, the first weekend of the 2024 MotoGP™ season is in the history books. The Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar didn't disappoint and in the aftermath of the campaign opener, we look at some of the talking points that surfaced in Lusail. 

"On the grid I had an electrical problem" - Raul Fernandez 

After a promising weekend for Raul Fernandez and the Trackhouse Racing squad, Sunday was a day to forget for the Spaniard after he experienced an electrical issue on the grid just before the first race of the year was set to burst into life. 

"On the grid I had an electrical problem. I don’t know exactly what. I saw on the dashboard all the lights, I saw the message. I had to stop the bike, we tried to find a solution in pitlane, but we didn’t have any possibility to go on track with that bike.

"We had to jump on the other bike, but it had a super used tyre and that was the race done then. I tried to finish the race but it was really difficult in the last five laps to manage the tyre, but I couldn’t ride so I said we’re here doing nothing, so I had to stop."

"The race was a nightmare" - Espargaro

After claiming a podium in the Tissot Sprint and displaying incredible late pace, Aprilia Racing's Aleix Espargaro headed into Sunday's Qatar GP as the rider to beat. However, that didn't turn out to be the case for the #41.

"Yesterday when I went to sleep, I was 100% sure that I would win the race. This is how I felt. Everything can happen, but the race was a nightmare. I was extremely slow. 53s all race. Yesterday I did 52.4 on lap eight of the Sprint, so it was embarrassing." 

- WATCH: MotoGP™ RACE HIGHLIGHTS FROM QATAR

"I feel like they have a couple of per cent in their pocket" - Binder 

Earning P2 in both the Tissot Sprint and the race was a fantastic way to kickstart the season for Brad Binder and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. However, after going winless in the last two seasons, it's those 25 points on a Sunday the South African is after, so are they closer to Ducati than they were in 2023? 

"I think the same as last year. We’re super close, but we haven’t shown that we can do it yet. For me, I feel like I’m a little bit pushing at 100% all the time. I feel like they have a couple of per cent in their pocket when they want to use it. I’m waiting for this last little bit of help, and then we try again." 

"I saw what the big boys were doing" - Acosta

There shouldn't be a single person who isn't impressed by Pedro Acosta's (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) debut weekend in the premier class. After reaching a peak of P4 in Sunday's race - which included passing Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) - and eventually finishing in P9, Acosta was buzzing with how his Qatar GP played out. 

- WATCH - ACOSTA: "I WAS LIVING THE DREAM FOR 15 LAPS"

"We're still very, very far" - Quartararo 

Despite making solid progress with their package in pre-season, the Qatar GP showed that Yamaha still have work to do in their pursuit of returning to regular podium finishers. So much so that 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo admitted after the race that he feels they're further away than they were in 2023. 

"It is what it is. This is when you really see the difference in how people work really hard and we are still very, very far from them. So of course it's really difficult because I know my potential and I know where I can be.

"We are further last year. We have improved a little bit, but they are even faster. They are even better and faster than last year. So the gap between all the European manufacturers and us is bigger. Even to Honda, I felt that today we were missing something. They are also struggling a lot, but I felt like we were even worse today." 

"I had a little issue in the race" - Marini 

It wasn't the debut weekend with Repsol Honda that Luca Marini would have been looking for. An issue in the race meant points weren't on the menu for the Italian, but Marini did admit that he was able to learn a few things when behind the recovering Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

"Tough weekend. I had a little issue in the race, so with this my pace was so slow. But anyway, also without that issue maybe I couldn't fight for a good position as my teammate did. So I think I understood many things during this race, because fortunately, I saw on my pit board someone was behind me, and I said, why? Who?

"But then I saw also the pit board of Jack, so I thought, oh, maybe it's Jack... So I let him pass and I tried to follow him, also to not take any risk going below with the tyre pressure, because also with this grid procedure was quite strange, and I didn't want to take the penalty of the tyre pressure. And I tried to understand something behind him, because the KTM is now really strong, improved a lot from last year, so I think that something positive comes in my mind, and it's clear for me for now what we need to do, but we need a little bit of time to try more fixes."