Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha’s V4 engine development continued at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but on a damp note after Augusto Fernandez finished last of the unaffected runners on Sunday.
The Japanese manufacturer is under pressure to deliver improvements heading into 2026, otherwise they risk losing superstar rider Fabio Quartararo. He’s entering his MotoGP prime, and cannot afford to waste any more of his good years in the midfield.
It makes Yamaha’s V4 engine a critical project, and the only man to have ridden it in a competitive setting so far is Augusto Fernandez. The results have not been encouraging, and there’s not a lot of time for the problems they face to be fixed.
Yamaha have already hit an ‘extreme’ V4 limit, which is going to prevent them from having much wiggle room when trying to set their bike up. Fernandez’s only positive for Yamaha in Malaysia was that they now know the weaknesses they must fix. The problem is having enough time to address them properly.
Augusto Fernandez is privately ‘frustrated’ with Yamaha’s development of the V4 engine
Quartararo was frustrated after a Fernandez crash and is clearly hoping that his team’s latest project can be the one to rejuvenate their hopes. It has now been three years since the Frenchman last won a race, and that was when he was defending a title back in 2022.
Despite the looming MotoGP rider market for 2027, Quartararo has clearly told Yamaha where he stands. He has given them so many opportunities to give him a solid bike over the last few seasons, but they just haven’t been able to produce one yet.
And now test rider Fernandez is privately getting ‘frustrated’ at having to ride around at the back of the pack when Yamaha pull him in as a wildcard rider. Mela Chercoles insists that the Spaniard ‘understands’ his team’s project, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt being at the back of the grid.
“I’ve spoken to him every day, and the guy was, let’s see how I can describe it, I’m not excited at all about the project. Not at all. And the guy [Fernandez], it’s not that he was disappointed, that’s not the exact word.
“He was frustrated. He was frustrated because he doesn’t like coming here to consistently finish last, and he has no chance.
“Although he understands that this is for something else, that he’s here to develop a bike and not to compete for the top 10. He’s a guy that finished fourth in Le Mans, remember, two years ago.”
How Fabio Quartararo forced Yamaha into making a change for the Malaysian Grand Prix
There is just under one month left until the start of MotoGP’s critical post-season test in Valencia, handing teams an opportunity to test their machines for 2026.
It means that development time for parts is already limited, and Yamaha are already all too aware of that fact.
Quartararo’s constant pressure forced a Yamaha decision to make Fernandez participate as a wildcard in Malaysia, to help the team gather more data with the V4.
Although it produced a disappointing result, the hope is that they will now be able to run that around into improvements which may be felt in 2026. It won’t have hurt their charge.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
