Why the next contract matters more to Fabio Quartararo than to Yamaha in MotoGP

With a riders’ market that activates earlier each year, and is expected to be highly active heading with an eye on 2027, Fabio Quartararo will decide in the coming months whether to renew his trust in Yamaha or seek his fortune with another manufacturer that may offer less money but more guarantees.

Quartararo’s sense of loyalty is unquestionable. It was Yamaha that believed in him and brought him to MotoGP in 2019, at a time when the magic that had once made him shine in the Spanish championship – where he was champion in 2013 and 2014 – seemed to have been lost somewhere in the paddock on his move into the world championship in Moto3.

However, as soon as he climbed aboard the M1, that spark returned, and many hailed him as the new Marc Marquez. Seven years after debuting in the premier class, the Frenchman has firmly established himself as the cornerstone of Yamaha’s project, which he joined as a factory rider in 2021, replacing Valentino Rossi no less, in a season in which he was crowned world champion.

Quartararo has extended his two-year commitment with the Iwata-based manufacturer twice (in 2022 and 2024), and the company is eager for a third renewal, which would see Quartararo complete an eight-year spell in blue. The problem is that such a decision comes during a challenging time for both sides: for Yamaha, because it is in the middle of a rebuilding process and focused on developing a V4 engine that it hopes will restore its expected competitiveness; and for the Quartararo, because he is at a crossroads on whether to trust Yamaha’s promises once again or to put in motion an alternative plan to find a ride that, on paper, offers more guarantees.

That would be a path similar to the one Marquez took when he walked away from his final year with Honda in 2024 to join Gresini. The key difference is that while the Catalan sought to challenge himself to see if he could still be competitive, the Frenchman has no doubts about his own abilities. What could push him to change teams would simply be the desire to have a bike that allows him to regularly fight for wins again.

On the financial side, while Marquez’s standing put him in a privileged position given his accumulated earnings, the roughly €20million Quartararo will have earned over 2025 and 2026 will likely make his approach different from his last renewal.

Marquez’s departure spurred Honda into action despite no longer having the multi-time champion leading its project – a good lesson for Yamaha. Quartararo, on the other hand, cannot afford to keep wandering in the shadows. His statements suggest it is almost impossible for him to stay with Yamaha beyond 2026. By the time the new regulations arrive in 2027, he will already be 28 years old: “If this bet doesn’t work, I won’t go to a project. I’ll go to a bike that from the start lets me fight for wins,” he has repeated throughout 2025, a season slightly less gloomy than the previous one – when he didn’t take a single podium – but still far from where he believes he should be.

The question is to what extent this warning hides a real threat, especially considering Quartararo has already been outspoken about Yamaha’s lack of reaction, and yet still re-signed with them. “Yamaha is the priority because they brought me to MotoGP. I gave them a chance, but there won’t be a second one. They’ve been promising me things for three years in a 10-page PDF, but they haven’t delivered nine and a half of them,” he told Motorsport.com back in August 2023.

In April 2024, with no signs of improvement from the M1, but his renewal was announced – making him the highest-paid rider on the grid for 2025 and 2026.

The current situation is intriguing because it will reveal Quartararo’s intentions. Yamaha can only guarantee him investment and commitment. Whether that translates into a bike capable of challenging at the front is another matter entirely. The issue becomes more complex because he must make the decision to stay or leave in the coming months, and it seems unrealistic to think that by then Yamaha will have convinced him with concrete results. The much-anticipated V4 engine still isn’t running at full capacity – “the Japanese [engineers] don’t want to push it yet,” said Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernandez in Brno – and none of the main riders have been able to try it yet.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Mark Wieland / Getty Images

The MotoGP market activates earlier and earlier, but this time with so many riders looking to change bikes in 2027 – such as Pedro Acosta and Jorge Martin – Motorsport.com understands that some manufacturers are already poised to present pre-agreements to secure their targets.

Given his talent and stature, Quartararo is one of the brightest stars of the moment. But even he cannot afford another drought like the one he has endured since 2022, when he last won a race and finished runner-up in the riders’ standings.

To keep him, Yamaha must provide some undeniable sign of recovery – whether through the introduction of the V4 engine or whatever else they can come up with. But it has to happen soon otherwise it is hard to imagine the Frenchman repeating the leap of faith he made in 2024 and trusting a team that has so far failed to deliver on its promises.