Quartararo to decide Yamaha’s MotoGP future at Misano test

Fabio Quartararo issued a warning to Yamaha about his future in MotoGP, which depends on his 2024 package during the Misano tests: “I gave them a chance, but there won’t be a second”.

Last season the French rider narrowly missed out on the world title despite his Yamaha shortcomings, losing to Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in the final round at Valencia.

It took Bagnaia and Ducati engineers to unleash the full potential of the Desmosedici GP22 to make it the near-perfect prototype, allowing the Turin native to close a 91-point deficit on Quartararo, as he completed the biggest comeback in MotoGP history.

Yamaha focused on improving the top speed of its M1 heading into 2023 – its main weakness compared to Ducati – and, after the first winter tests, this gave the team the optimism in this area. But, at the start of this season, it became clear that this was a false dawn and had compromised the entire Yamaha package.

In addition to gaining less top speed than expected, the M1 lost the agility that had always characterized Yamaha’s efforts and was its main strength against its rivals.

Results so far in 2023 have been dismal and, after nine rounds, Quartararo is 11th in the standings followed by teammate Franco Morbidelli in 12th. Between them, they achieved just one Grand Prix podium, which Quartararo achieved with third place in the Americas GP, as well as a third place in the Dutch GP sprint race.

After the summer break there had been hopes of a turnaround, but at Silverstone the Yamaha riders were the lowest ranked.

With Morbidelli dropped in favor of the arrival of Alex Rins, who will join the Spaniard in the Yamaha garage in 2025 remains to be seen. Quartararo’s current deal runs until the end of 2024, a deal he is unlikely to break due to a lack of alternative options, but beyond that depends on what the French driver think Yamaha can produce.

Quartararo admitted he was running out of patience with Yamaha and its inability to deliver a package it demanded. This will come to a head at next month’s Misano test, which will be held immediately after the San Marino GP, when the first prototypes for 2024 are run.

“In the Misano test, I want to have proof. They have a month. Yamaha has been promising me things for three years in a 10-page PDF document, of which nine and a half pages are not filled,” Quartararo told Motorsport .com last weekend at Silverstone. “This year, I didn’t want to see this PDF.

“I don’t want to see things written, what I want to see is the Misano bike, because it will be, 95%, the one that will ride in 2024. There we will see if Yamaha really wants me for the future. “

Despite his frustration, Quartararo reaffirms that his priority is to stay with Yamaha if he delivers what he wants – but at Misano that can’t be a promise.

“Yamaha is the priority because it’s the brand that got me into MotoGP – I trust Yamaha and gave them a chance, but there won’t be a second,” he said. .

In June, Quartararo parted ways with longtime manager Eric Mahe and set up a new management company FQ20, which took over his contracts and image rights. This company will negotiate with Yamaha or wherever the French rider eventually moves from 2025.

“Now I feel much freer,” Quartararo added of the managerial change. “I have people at home who take care of the legal part and the economic part.

“I know what I want, I don’t want to be dizzy. It will be very important in view of what Yamaha will do for next year.