Yamaha tell Fabio Quartararo how long they will need to score ‘big results’ with their V4 MotoGP bike

Add as preferred source on Google

Yamaha are once again testing their V4 MotoGP bike at this weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix. Augusto Fernandez is making his third wildcard appearance in the last seven events.

Fernandez has already featured in San Marino and Malaysia with the new engine, but the coming days are critical. After the Grand Prix, Yamaha’s full-time riders – including new Pramac signing Toprak Razgatlioglu – will climb onto the bike for the post-season test.

Utilising their concessions, Yamaha will remain at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for an additional day of running on Wednesday. The performance of the updated V4 will dictate the narrative around Fabio Quartararo’s future heading into the winter.

Quartararo is threatening to leave Yamaha as he closes in on a third consecutive winless season. Paolo Pavesio’s franchise star has lost patience.

Yamaha will spend the first half of 2026 focusing on ‘development’

Worryingly for Quartararo, Yamaha sporting director Massimo ‘Maio’ Meregalli told MotoGP reporter Louis Suddaby that the team don’t expect to contend for ‘big results’ until the second half of the 2026 season.

That’s because they will spend the first half of the year in a ‘development phase’ honing the new machine. Yamaha are the last manufacturer to move on from the inline four.

As Suddaby suggests, this timeline is unlikely to satisfy Quartararo. He enters the season finale ninth in the championship with just one Grand Prix podium from a possible 21.

“I spoke to Maio Meregalli earlier on today, and he was not writing off the first half of the season, but reading between the lines, he was essentially saying, ‘We may have to use the first half of next season as a little bit of a development phase to continue the development on this V4, and then we can go for big results in the second half of next season’,” Suddaby said.

“Fabio Quartararo is not going to want to wait around that long.”

Fabio Quartararo’s damning verdict on Yamaha’s alliance with Pramac

Quartararo revealed the motivation behind his 2024 extension in a recent interview. He won’t deny that ‘the financial aspect’ played a part, but says he also wanted to be the man to lead Yamaha back to the top.

“Now the desire to win again outweighs that,” he admitted, in what may be one of the strongest hints about his future yet.

• READ MORE: Fabio Quartararo adamant that Marc Marquez’s injury doesn’t devalue his one and only MotoGP title

Quartararo was also excited by the arrival of Max Bartolini as technical director and the upcoming V4 project.

Yamaha allied with Pramac at the start of 2025, but the data from the former world champions hasn’t delivered ‘many improvements’ so far.