Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Quartararo went against the requests of Paolo Pavesio by continuing to publicly attack Yamaha at the United States Grand Prix, amid their disappointing start to 2026.
The Japanese giant sit last in the constructors’ championship after the first three rounds of the 2026 MotoGP season, with just nine points to their name. The factory Yamaha outfit and satellite crew Pramac are also last in the teams’ standings, with nine and one points so far.
No other crews have secured fewer points than the 22 that LCR Honda have in their account for ninth in the teams’ standings. Honda even sit on 28 points for fourth in the constructors’ championship, which Aprilia lead ahead of Ducati with 101 and 69 points so far this season.
Quartararo is even the lead Yamaha star in the riders’ standings down in 17th place with just six points. Factory teammate Alex Rins in 18th has secured three points, while Pramac racers Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller rank 20th and 21st out of 23 with one and zero points.
Here’s the MotoGP championship standings after the United States GP!
It is Aprilia's to lose already?
Fabio Quartararo ignored Paolo Pavesio’s request to keep his Yamaha complaints private
Yamaha’s new-for-2026 V4 engine is costing them heavily, as their new engine is down on power compared to their rivals with years of experience with 1,000cc units. But it is not the only problem holding Yamaha back, as they also had to build a new bike for their V4 engine.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats
The situation at Yamaha has continued to chip away at Quartararo’s optimism, which seems to have all but vanished. Quartararo thinks Yamaha have “no idea” how to fix their bike this season and he “can’t find anything positive” to say about the V4 YZR-M1 after three rounds.
According to MOW, Quartararo’s outburst after finishing the United States GP in P17 showed he ‘immediately ignored’ the ‘half-warning’ that Yamaha managing director Pavesio had just issued him. Pavesio would prefer that Quartararo keeps any issues with the V4 M1 in-house.
Pavesio recently explained that Yamaha understand the frustrations that their riders will be having amid their difficult start to 2026, but certain issues should only be shared internally. Quartararo, however, went against Pavesio’s wishes and threw Yamaha under the bus again.
How much responsibility does Fabio Quartararo need to take for Yamaha’s problems?
Yamaha riders locked out the last four positions in the final classification at COTA on Sunday, as three-time World Superbike champion Razgatlioglu secured the first point of his MotoGP career in P15. Honda’s Joan Mir, Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura and LCR’s Johann Zarco had retired.
Razgatlioglu was only 1.178s behind VR46 ace Franco Morbidelli aboard his Ducati GP25 at the chequered flag at COTA, as well. The Turkish star led Pramac teammate Miller home by 0.760s, as well, and held a 1.587s lead over Quartararo – who Rins finished 11.565s shy of.
It remains to be seen whether Yamaha take any action to prevent Quartararo from making further outbursts at the upcoming races. Yamaha banned their riders from speaking to the media in Thailand, but Quartararo is set to join Honda in 2027 so might not bite his tongue.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
