Paolo Pavesio says Fabio Quartararo’s Silverstone DNF was the highlight of Yamaha’s season

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Yamaha’s 2025 MotoGP season was one of frustration, with the team finishing bottom of the standings.

The YZR-M1 proved vastly uncompetitive during races, with Yamaha’s riders struggling to find consistent results. Fabio Quartararo managed to salvage a top-10 finish in the championship, but his teammate, Alex Rins, could only manage three top-10 finishes across the season.

Things were not much better at Pramac, with the satellite team finishing last in the teams’ standings, 12 months after winning it with Ducati. Quartararo was not happy with Pramac’s performance, with Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira finishing P17 and P20 respectively.

The 2021 MotoGP champion carried Yamaha on his back in 2025, showing his incredible talent over one lap. He achieved five pole positions across the season, the joint-second most of any rider with Marco Bezzecchi.

However, the Frenchman could only convert one of them to a podium, finishing P2 at Jerez. He crashed out from pole at Le Mans and was on course for victory at Silverstone before his race ended in heartbreak.

Paolo Pavesio chooses Fabio Quartararo’s Silverstone DNF as Yamaha’s ‘highlight’ of 2025

Quartararo looked to have a commanding lead over the field at the British Grand Prix. However, his ride-height device failed, forcing him out of the race.

It could have been his first MotoGP win since 2022, but an almost certain win was cruelly denied through no fault of his own. Despite this, Yamaha boss Paolo Pavesio maintains that Silverstone was the ‘highlight’ of the season, as it proved the bike could give Quartararo the tools to be competitive.

He said via Yamaha’s official YouTube channel: “As I said before, I think in this roller coaster, maybe it’s a bit extreme to say, but the highlight of the season is a DNF.

“Because, for me, Silverstone remains the moment we could have seen Fabio in the condition to do what he’s capable to do, the bike in the condition to allow him to be capable to do what he has to do.

“Motorsport is, anyhow, sometimes [a] violent sport, and small technical issues has denied a victory, which maybe could have changed a bit the sum-up of the season.

“But again, this gives us confirmation that any details is important. We need to keep focusing. But yes, regardless of the result, I really keep Silverstone as the highlight of the season.”

READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats

Fabio Quartararo names Silverstone as his ‘best and worst’ race of 2025

Marco Bezzecchi consoled Quartararo in the media pen after the race. The Aprilia star inherited the win, giving him his first of three victories in 2025.

Quartararo explained that Silverstone was his ‘best and worst’ race of the season. He had been riding ‘really smooth’ throughout the weekend, but a mechanical failure brought his progress crashing down.

“The Silverstone GP was the best and worst, I would say, GP of the season because I felt I was clearly super strong,” he said.

“On the qualifying we finished P1, but also 0.3s to second place. In the race, I was with a five-second lead, more or less, riding really… not easily, of course, but really smooth.”

‘Senior Yamaha figures’ felt Quartararo was at his best over the weekend, and it was a level he kept up for the rest of the season. But the M1’s lack of pace ultimately let him down, and he is desperate for improvements with the V4 – Quartararo has threatened to leave Yamaha if it does not.