Marco Bezzecchi
With recent reports revealing that Fabio Quartararo is finalising a deal to swap Yamaha’s machinery for Honda’s in 2027, it is crucial for the Japanese constructor to be aware of the Frenchman’s ‘Achilles heel’.
Ahead of the first pre-season shakedown of the 2026 MotoGP season, the opening move of the rider market was made public.
Fabio Quartararo finalising a deal with Honda served to be quite the shock, given the fact that bikes hadn’t even touched the race track at the time of its emergence.
In turn, it was then revealed that Jorge Martin was finalising a deal with Yamaha to replace the 2021 world champion in Iwata, marking moves for two of the biggest players in the market.
While it is quite the coup for Honda, the 2027 premier class campaign will also feature a brand new set of technical regulations, and they may have made a mistake in putting their faith in Quartararo for it.
What is Fabio Quartararo’s body language telling us here?
Honda may struggle during MotoGP’s new ruleset due to Fabio Quartararo’s ‘development prowess’
On a recent episode of the Paddock Pass podcast, journalist Adam Wheel pinpointed Quartararo’s ‘Achilles heel’ as being his ‘development prowess’.
While he is undoubtedly one of the most talented riders on the grid, the Frenchman lacks a certain technical knowledge and has developed a reputation in the paddock for giving poor feedback.
In fact, Yamaha stopped taking Quartararo’s advice altogether during their initial development of the new V4-powered M1.
Instead, the Japanese constructor relied on the ‘golden’ feedback that Jack Miller offered, with the Australian being a leading member of the behind-the-scenes push to get the M1 ready in time for 2026.
It’s clear that Quartararo is capable of getting the most out of any bike that he is racing on top of, but during a season in which bikes will be in development as the year progresses, it’s doubtful that Honda will be able to benefit from his expertise.
Quartararo’s teammate is yet to be announced at this moment in time, with Luca Marini expected to be the front-runner between himself and Joan Mir.
The reason for Marini being ahead of Mir in the running for the second seat at Honda is his own technical expertise.
Marini has been an integral part of Honda’s development push in recent years, and the Italian rider’s knowledge can definitely be attributed to the Asaka-based factory’s resurgence last season.
- READ MORE: MotoGP fans think Yamaha are ‘screwed’ after losing Fabio Quartararo to Honda for 2027 season
MotoGP’s shakedown in Sepang comes to an end, which team has benefited the most from the past three days? 🤔
Let us know in the comments below!
Fabio Quartararo was the third-fastest rider at MotoGP’s Sepang shakedown
With the inaugural shakedown of the 2026 MotoGP season now in the books, Yamaha engineers can take home a lot of data to analyse and interpret to continue their development of their new M1 before the first official testing session of the season begins next week.
After sitting out the first day and seeing Miller set the fastest time of the session on day two, Quartararo set the third fastest time on day three amid the current reports that suggest he has already decided on his future.
The early lap times coming from the V4-powered M1 are encouraging. After it ran at the very back of the grid during a wildcard entry at the hands of Augusto Fernandez in the Malaysian GP last year, Quartararo actually improved on the fastest lap he set during the test that followed on the inline-four M1.
Factory teammate Alex Rins also improved on his time that was set during qualifying in Sepang last season, as did Miller, which certainly bodes well for the trajectory that Yamaha are currently on.
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