Marco Bezzecchi
Alex Rins believes no other Yamaha MotoGP rider can get near the results that Fabio Quartararo achieves as he overrides their bike like Max Verstappen in F1 at Red Bull.
Rins has “no doubt” that Quartararo is a “great rider” but he does not believe talent alone is what separates the Frenchman from the rest of the Yamaha roster. Quartararo was the clear top dog on the YZR-M1 in 2025, as he has been since winning the 2021 MotoGP riders’ title.
Yamaha promoted Quartararo from former satellite squad Petronas SRT to replace Valentino Rossi in 2021, and he won the title that season. Quartararo then out-scored the second-best Yamaha rider by 206 points in 2022, by 70 in 2023, by 82 in 2024 and by 122 points in 2025.
Franco Morbidelli was the last rider to finish ahead of Quartararo in the standings while on a Yamaha when he raced for Petronas SRT during the 2020 season. Morbidelli finished second in the 2020 standings to Joan Mir, then riding for Suzuki, while Quartararo only came eighth.
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Alex Rins feels Fabio Quartararo’s experience aboard Yamaha’s bike makes matching him very unlikely
But Rins believes Quartararo could “raise the level” among the Yamaha ranks in 2025 as he was at one with the M1, having ridden it since his debut with Petronas SRT in 2019. Yamaha will race a new version of the M1 in 2026 after swapping their inline four engine to use a V4.
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Quartararo’s ability to push the M1 past the limits that any other Yamaha rider can is similar, says Rins, to how Marc Marquez won six MotoGP titles for Honda from 2013-2019 and how Verstappen won four F1 titles for Red Bull from 2021-2024 while humbling their teammates.
Rins told L’Esportiu: “Fabio is a great rider, I have no doubt about it. He has managed to raise the level of Yamaha to a point that neither Jack Miller, nor Miguel Oliveira, nor I have been able to reach. He has clearly overridden the bike.
“But without taking any credit away from him, the bike is made for him. He has been part of Yamaha for seven seasons, he knows it better than us and has adapted year after year to its characteristics.
“It is the same as what happened with Marc Marquez and Honda, who had fellow riders like Jorge Lorenzo or Pol Espargaro, and Marquez was the only one who could win with that bike. Only he knew how to make it go.
“Going to other sports, it is the same as what happened in F1 with Max Verstappen. Red Bull have tried Checo Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, but the only one who has won is the Dutchman.”
Fabio Quartararo scored more points than the other Yamaha riders combined in 2025
Quartararo was the top Yamaha rider in the 2025 MotoGP standings in ninth place with 201 points to, ahead of Miller in 17th with 79, Rins in 19th with 68 and Oliveira in 20th with 43. The 2025 season was Miller and Oliveira’s first year on the Yamaha M1 after joining Pramac.
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Yamaha even saw Quartararo secure more points than Miller, Rins and Oliveira combined in 2025. The 26-year-old was also the only Yamaha rider to secure a podium or a pole position. Quartararo finished P2 in the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, where he took his first of five poles.
Rins especially saw Quartararo’s braking ability as where he made the difference in 2025, as Yamaha’s data showed the Frenchman gained eight-tenths of a second on those also riding the M1. The Spaniard often felt Quartararo would brake 20 metres later than him last year.
Quartararo’s dominance at Yamaha offers similarities to how Verstappen has been the clear number one at Red Bull since Daniel Ricciardo left. Verstappen took 93% of Red Bull’s points during 2025, 74% in 2024, 67% in 2020 and 2021, 66% in 2019 and 2023 and 59% in 2022.
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