Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Quartararo has been the shining light of Yamaha’s 2025 MotoGP season, yet he has also endured a mixed campaign with a couple of highs scattered among the lows.
No Yamaha rider scored more points than Quartararo sealed during the first 12 of 22 rounds this term. The 26-year-old hit the summer break sitting ninth in the championship standings with 102 points. Pramac star Jack Miller is the second-best Yamaha rider with just 52 points.
Factory teammate Alex Rins and Pramac pilot Miguel Oliveira have also only secured 42 and six points so far in the 2025 MotoGP season. But while Quartararo leads the Yamaha fold on 102 points, Ducati rider Marc Marquez leads the championship with 381 points to his name.
The Frenchman’s highs have also been fleeting, with an average race finishing position of P9 from nine results. Quartararo crashed during the French Grand Prix, retired from the lead of the British Grand Prix and crashed out of the Aragon Grand Prix while running in 10th place.
Fabio Quartararo has proven that Yamaha are undeniably ‘not where we’d like to be’
Quartararo’s rear ride height device stopped him from winning at Silverstone, as the native of Nice was forced to pull over on Lap 12 of 19 after leading by more than four seconds. He also blamed rear chatter problems for causing the Frenchman’s fall on Lap 13 of 23 at Aragon.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats
Victory in the British GP would have marked Yamaha’s first race win since Quartararo tasted glory at the 2022 German Grand Prix. So, while Quartararo achieved pole at Jerez, Le Mans, Silverstone and Assen, managing director Paolo Pavesio knows Yamaha still have work to do.
Pavesio told Motosprint: “It’s undeniable. We’re not where we’d like to be yet because our goal is to return to winning ways. But compared to last season, there has been a significant step forward.
“Having four bikes on the grid again with the arrival of the Prima Pramac team as the second factory team has been crucial for our growth, as is having a junior team in Moto2. From this point of view, we are very satisfied with our work.”
Yamaha developing their V4 engine could be the easiest way to improve their results
Quartararo was the only rider not named Marc Marquez to claim a pole position in the 2025 MotoGP season before Francesco Bagnaia set pole at Brno, thanks to his Ducati teammate’s crash in Q2 while on a faster lap. Marquez took pole seven times during the first 12 rounds.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Yamaha from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
But while Quartararo’s pole at Jerez marked Yamaha’s first since the 2022 Indonesian Grand Prix, the YZR-M1’s occasional single-lap pace has not always carried over to race pace. The M1’s inline-four engine is even one of the major reasons why Yamaha are often off the pace.
Quartararo is urging Yamaha to develop their V4 engine, which should also be crucial for his future with the team beyond 2026. Yamaha are working on their first V4 engine, but are yet to decide if it will be raced before the end of the 2025 season or to only debut it next term.
Yamaha have brought upgraded aero to the M1 this year to try to improve their form, but it is regularly not enough. So, Quartararo is using what he learnt from Lewis Hamilton to help Yamaha improve, after the Frenchman spent time with Ferrari at the F1 Spanish GP in June.
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