Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha are preparing for their most significant weekend of the 2025 season at the San Marino Grand Prix. The race marks the official debut of their new V4 engine.
Test rider Augusto Fernandez will make a wildcard appearance with the new machinery. The full-time Yamaha and Pramac riders, including Fabio Quartararo, stick with the inline four for now.
The engine, which Quartararo tested in Barcelona earlier this week, is seen as a critical step in Yamaha’s efforts to return to the top of MotoGP. They have fallen behind the European manufacturers since El Diablo’s 2021 title win.
If the heavily publicised V4 project delivers, then it could be enough to convince Quartararo to renew his contract next year. Conversely, if it doesn’t meet expectations, he’s strongly hinted that he’ll look for another ride.
Fabio Quartararo has already used his two fairing updates for 2025
Logically, there’s an argument for Quartararo, along with confirmed 2026 riders Alex Rins and Jack Miller to use the V4 for the remainder of the season. Even if it costs them significant lap time, they have little to lose.
Yamaha are bottom of the constructors’ standings, and while Quartararo is a commendable eighth in the riders’ championship, his priority is competing for titles again. Seven full weekends of test time could be invaluable in that regard.
But as The Race’s Simon Patterson explained on X, Quartararo and Yamaha would be in breach of the regulations if they adopted this experiment. The new engine will require a new fairing, and they have already made the two updates permitted under the regulations.
These rules don’t apply to wildcard riders like Fernandez, nor do they apply to the two remaining official tests in Emilia Romagna (Monday) and Valencia (19 November). Yamaha could in theory take a deliberate disqualification by fielding their full-time riders with the V4 in the remaining races, but this seems unlikely.
Is Yamaha’s new V4 engine faster than their current inline four?
Rumoured lap times suggest Quartararo was around 1.5 seconds slower with the V4 in Barcelona, compared to his qualifying times from the previous Saturday. There’s no cause for alarm at this stage, though.
Changeable track conditions likely slowed him down, and development on the engine is far from complete. What matters is whether it’s competitive by the start of the 2026 season.
Miller has heard ‘good things’ from Yamaha’s engineers and feels that the Iwata brand have reached the ceiling of their current bike. They are the only manufacturer still using an inline four.
The feeling is that Yamaha have accelerated their V4 development in response to Quartararo’s ‘body language’. He had been looking ‘defeated’ but the prospect of a new era could revitalise him.
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