Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Quartararo committed to Yamaha by signing a new two-year contract last season. But there have been occasional hints of regret from the Frenchman in 2025.
Heading into this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Quartararo is 10th in the championship. He’s scored just two points in the last four races, a run that has included three DNFs.
Only Marc Marquez (six) has scored more poles than the 2021 world champion (three) this season. But Quartararo’s solitary podium finish came in Jerez.
He’s admitted that he has to override the bike to try and stay in contention. Saturdays are a reminder of why he’s so highly rated, and Sundays tend to painfully expose Yamaha’s limitations.
Quartararo could have joined Gresini for 2025, but that would have involved taking a major pay cut. As his faith in the project wanes, though, Ducati could have another opportunity.
Frustrated Fabio Quartararo says he has ‘no more time’ to wait at Yamaha
Speaking to MotoGP’s official website in Assen, Quartararo was asked, on a scale of one to 10, how confident he was of winning another championship with Yamaha.
“Do you really want to know the number right now?” he replied. “For this year, the confidence is zero, of course. It will depend a lot on the bike next year.”
He says that Max Bartolini, Yamaha technical director, played a crucial role in convincing him to stay. But that brings intense pressure for 2026, the final year of the current ruleset.
Quartararo has strongly hinted that he could look to leave the Japanese manufacturer if he can’t fight for regular victories next year in order to preserve his ‘mental health’. He sounds sceptical about their chances, but the anticipated change to a V4 engine offers some hope.
“Max has a big, big, big pressure on him,” he said. “If I remain at Yamaha for this year and next year, I think Yamaha can say thank you to him, because he’s the one that really changed my mind and the one that really made me believe in the project.
“He knows that he needs to make it work before next year. This is something super important for me, for my mental health. We’ll see what the new project will bring. But it’s important to me that we fight for victories from next year.
“I’m not enjoying [being] on the bike. I need to enjoy it. I need to feel the happiness of being at the front, and this is what I really need right now. This is why I’m putting a lot of pressure on them. I have no more time.
“What I want to see is facts. At the moment, I don’t see anything. To be honest, we are still very far. But next year, we’ll have a completely new bike with the V4, so I don’t know if we’re starting from zero or not.
“For me, I needed a change. The M1 reached its limit pretty much. Now we need to start something new, but I need a winning project now.”
How Ducati’s MotoGP superteam could look from 2027 with Pedro Acosta also involved
If they signed Quartararo – and it’s still largely speculative for now – Ducati could form one of the strongest rosters ever seen in MotoGP.
Marquez will almost certainly extend with the factory team, while Davide Tardozzi says Ducati have total faith in Francesco Bagnaia despite his struggles this year. Gresini should retain Alex Marquez, a surprise title contender, and impressive rookie Fermin Aldeguer.
VR46 should be open to changes, though. Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio have both performed at a reasonable level this season, but have been outshone by the younger Marquez brother.
Pedro Acosta has been strongly linked with VR46, currently the second-in-command team. This would make sense as a possible destination for Quartararo, provided he was willing to surrender factory status for improved sporting prospects – as his recent interview would suggest.
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