Fabio Quartarraro says his next MotoGP deal is only bikes that can win from day one after previously renewing Yamaha and the underrenewal project.
Quartarraro has demonstrated his faith in Yamaha by signing seasonal updates for 2025 and 2026, but he has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress from Japanese manufacturers in recent months.
The Frenchman scored four pole positions and one podium in the improved M1 in 2025, but Yamaha fell to the final spot in the Constructors Championship, behind Home Glow rival Honda.
Yamaha is also developing a new V4 engine in the background, alongside four other manufacturers, but the improved Litmus tests from the engineering team will be a 2027 regulation with the potential to reset competitive formbooks in MotoGP.
He was asked to follow in Mark Marquez’s footsteps and walk away from the big deal behind him to get a more competitive bike, Quartararo said:
Six-time MotoGP champion Marquez signed a valid contract with Honda until the 2024 season, but tore the deal a year earlier and moved to Grecini Ducati, earning tens of millions of euros in the process.
Quartarraro, the 2021 MotoGP champion, is believed to have a lucrative contract with Yamaha that does not match up with satellite teams.
The 26-year-old revealed that his decision to stay with Yamaha was not entirely driven by his salary, but a chance to lead the project.
“(Contract renewal) wasn’t just for money, it wasn’t for the project, but I don’t want the project for the future, but I can fight to win from the first race I ride.”
Quartarraro’s former teammate Maverick Vinales was due to close his contract with Yamaha a year earlier and leave at the end of the 2021 season.
Since then, Vinaz has hoped to stay at Yamaha in 2022 and regretted turning down an offer from Ducati to his partner Andrea Dovizioso in 2019-20.
However, Quartararro dismissed the importance of Viñales’ choice, saying that all riders must follow their career paths.
“Each person is just as it is and I don’t take those phrases,” he said. “I always seek advice from my family and people I have with, but you have to do what you feel.
“A lot of people have told me to go here or there, but if I want to be here, I decided, even if it’s a very big mistake. And if I want to go somewhere, I won’t regret it.”