How Yamaha privately reacted to Fabio Quartararo’s frustration with V4 during the Buriram test

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Fabio Quartararo made his frustrations abundantly clear at the Buriram test as he once again encountered problems with his Yamaha bike.

It has been a torrid time for the Frenchman in recent years as he has struggled to extract top results for his Yamaha machinery. In 2026, he is at breaking point, having threatened to leave the team at the end of his contract.

According to reports, he already has decided to quit Yamaha, as Quartararo is set to join Honda from 2027. When looking at the Iwata outfit’s performance in 2026 testing, it is not hard to see why the 2021 MotoGP champion is moving on.

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Quartararo suffered injury on the first day of testing at Sepang, with Yamaha encountering engine trouble with the V4, which suspended their activities on day two. In Buriram, a week before the season opener in Thailand, the issues have persisted.

Quartararo was P17 on day two in the Buriram test, over a second off the pace. Viral footage on social media showed the Frenchman showing the middle finger to his bike as he suffered yet more engine trouble.

Fabio Quartararo’s frustrated gestures in Buriram have ‘not gone down well’ with Yamaha

Neil Hodgson thinks Quartararo will be the biggest let-down in 2026, given Yamaha’s woes with the V4. The 26-year-old has made his anger clear to his team, and as pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard notes, it has not gone down well internally.

Appleyard said from outside the Yamaha garage on After The Flag: “Fabio Quartararo has arguably been the story of the test with his frustration already starting to boil over.

“And it’s going to be a huge test of professionalism from both Fabio and the Yamaha camp, for this side of the garage in particular, to make sure the obvious, the evident frustrations do not boil over as we go throughout the season. Because I think there is a real chance of that happening.

“Fabio has not been able to hide his emotions particularly well throughout this Buriram test, with images that have gone viral on social media of him flicking the middle finger to his M1, and that has obviously not gone down well within the Yamaha camp.”

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

Fabio Quartararo is ‘cutting a disappointed and frustrated figure’ after more Yamaha woes

Elliott York later added that Quartararo’s body language was one of pure disappointment and frustration when he spoke to him after the test.

“It’s going to be, unfortunately, a real, real struggle for Quartararo, again, just seeing his name nowhere near the top of the timesheets,” he said.

“I spoke to him yesterday, we heard it in the After The Flag show that we did, and just being around him, looking at how his mannerisms are, his body language, he’s just cutting a very, very disappointed and frustrated figure.

“Part of him would have expected this. Of course, he isn’t dumb, he knows that coming into this season, this was not going to be an easy task to get that V4 up to scratch very quickly.

“To challenge the likes of Honda, the likes of Ducati, the likes of Aprilia and the likes of KTM, who all have years and years and years of experience working with a V4 engine.

“Yamaha, this year, are ultimately, and they knew this coming into this year, are going to have to take their medicine, use this as a platform to build on for ’27.”