Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha confirmed on Tuesday morning that Fabio Quartararo will leave the team at the end of the season, along with Alex Rins.
It’s been an open secret since the winter that Quartararo will be joining Honda, and Yamaha’s announcement paves the way for that move to be made official at last.
Quartararo won the world championship with Yamaha in 2021 but then let a record lead slip to Francesco Bagnaia in 2022. The team then slipped into the midfield and now find themselves at the bottom of the pecking order.
Change our mind, Alex Rins still deserves a MotoGP ride after Yamaha confirm his exit
Why Yamaha should now sanction immediate Fabio Quartararo departure
Quartararo has been MotoGP’s most outspoken rider this season, aware of his impending departure.
While he has moderated his tone recently, he has said that he is prioritising health over results this year (with a view to his Honda move), that he’s ‘riding for himself’ and that Yamaha have ‘no idea’ how to improve their bike.
Quartararo’s professionalism has been questioned, and the team even cancelled media debriefs after the Thailand Grand Prix for fear of what he might say.
The concern now is that this will only get worse. Quartararo wasn’t allowed to talk openly about leaving the team, but now that restriction has been removed, which will change the agenda for his debriefs.
It’s likely that the already strained relationship will be damaged further before the season is out. One wonders who benefits from continuing until the end of the season.
Should Honda be worried about Fabio Quartararo’s mentality in MotoGP?
Yes, Quartararo is clearly Yamaha’s best performer and their best hope of respectable points, as he demonstrated with a P8 at Assen last weekend, but this season isn’t about results.
Instead, it’s about developing the V4 and preparing for 2027, with last place in the championship already a foregone conclusion.
One could argue that Yamaha would get just as much value from having a test rider like Augusto Fernandez on the bike until the end of the season in an experimental capacity. Indeed, Quartararo didn’t even test the 2027 bike in Brno because of his impending departure.
As for Honda, they’re currently a rider down with Johann Zarco out injured and there’s no prospect of that changing in the near future. Cal Crutchlow is understandably adrift at the back of the field, so Quartararo could theoretically take over at LCR.
And for the rider himself, as long as his salary remained broadly the same – which shouldn’t be an issue for Honda – then he would probably welcome the opportunity to get a head start on his adaptation and ride a more competitive bike.
In reality, this almost certainly won’t happen given the web of contractual complications. But what’s the sense in tainting this title-winning relationship further, when all parties could benefit from an early split?
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
