Paolo Pavesio tells Fabio Quartararo he’s ‘complaining too much’ at Yamaha

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Fabio Quartararo hasn’t won a MotoGP race since the summer of 2022, and he’s made his frustration with Yamaha increasingly clear.

This season, the Yamaha M1 was the slowest bike in MotoGP. Quartararo finished ninth in the standings, returning to the podium three times after missing out entirely last year, but every other full-time rider ranked between 17th and 20th.

The team have confirmed that they will switch to a V4 engine for 2026 after extensive testing. But the feeling is that Quartararo isn’t satisfied with the V4, and the team are expecting at least the first half of next year to be a learning period.

Quartararo says he has ‘no time’ to wait and will ‘make a change’ if necessary. The 26-year-old won the world championship with the iconic brand in 2021.

Paolo Pavesio urges Fabio Quartararo to look at the ‘figures’

It was recently reported that some Yamaha staff are unhappy with Quartararo, who was once ‘cheerful’ but now seems to be ‘apathetic’. His repeated threats to leave when his contract expires next year are hurting team morale.

Team boss Paolo Pavesio has now effectively gone public with these concerns. In an interview with Speedweek, he questioned what Quartararo is trying to achieve.

Pavesio also believes that Yamaha’s ranking in the constructors’ belies the progress they’ve made this season. Only Marc Marquez (eight) scored more podiums than Quartararo.

“Let me give you some figures,” said Pavesio. “These are also related to Fabio’s exceptional riding talent. His average gap to pole position last year was 1.3 seconds. This year it was 0.35 seconds. He started from pole position five times and from the front row ten times.

“The bike is obviously much faster over a flying lap, thanks in part to him. The bike is also faster in the sprint and a bit faster in the long race. But the longer a race goes on, the more we struggle.

“And complaining too much in public doesn’t help the company’s commitment. We work because we, as a company, are committed to it. We believe we can build a better bike, which could ultimately lead to convincing Fabio to stay with us.

“But it doesn’t work the other way around. Our commitment is to Yamaha. We have a champion who is an extremely important part of our project.

“If we do something that benefits all our riders, then we’ll generate a positive result. There’s no magic in a mechanical sport.”

Fabio Quartararo’s ‘public complaints’ are not healthy

Yamaha have gone to great lengths to keep their biggest star. Quartararo is one of the best-paid riders on the grid.

And beyond that, they ramped up the V4 project, hired the highly-rated Max Bartolini as their technical director and formed a partnership with Pramac.

Quartararo says Yamaha’s satellite team haven’t helped them so far, but Pavesio is excited about the factory’s ‘long-term’ potential. ‘Public complaints’ detract from the ‘healthy’ atmosphere he’s trying to cultivate.

“We’ve restructured the racing department with new people, we have a new team, a Moto2 project – all of this will lead us to a bright future,” he said. “We have long-term visions and try to improve every weekend and in every race.

“The better we are, the better it is for the brand and the riders. Overall, this creates a positive atmosphere. Public complaints are not part of this healthy process.

“Difficult moments are acceptable in every respect, but technically speaking, I believe we hit rock bottom last year. We are more committed to MotoGP than ever and want to get back to the top. That’s the way it is, and Yamaha can’t do more than that. The track is our judge; that’s how it is in racing.”