Fabio Quartararo warns Yamaha: “I have no more time, I need a winning MotoGP project”

Fabio Quartararo has piled pressure on Yamaha and technical director Max Bartolini to deliver a winning V4 MotoGP project in 2026, warning “I have no more time”.

The Frenchman has been a Yamaha rider since joining the premier-class with the Petronas SRT squad in 2019.

A meteoric rise saw seven podiums in Quartararo's debut season, the first satellite M1 victories in his second year, then the world title at the factory team in 2021.

But Quartararo’s success ground to a sudden halt with Yamaha’s last MotoGP win in mid-2022, after which the M1 became overwhelmed by the European machines.

The 26-year-old has made just four podium appearances since.

Quartararo: "We have to fight for victories from next year"

Currently in the first season of a two-year contract that runs until the end of 2026, Quartararo told MotoGP.com ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix that the clock is ticking.

“Do you really want to know the number right now?” he joked when asked to rate his confidence of winning another title with Yamaha from one to ten.

“I think for Yamaha and me, I prefer not to say a number. For this year, the confidence is zero, of course. 

"But it depends a lot on the bike of next year.

“Max has a big, big, big pressure on him. I mean, if I remained in Yamaha for this year and next year, I think Yamaha can say 'thank you' to him because he's the one who really changed my mind and really made me believe in the project.

“But he knows that he needs to make it work before next year.

"This is something super important for me, for my mental health, and we will see where the new [V4] project will bring.

“But it's important for me that we have to fight for victories from next year.”

Quartararo had been widely expected to leave Yamaha at the end of 2024, with rival teams circling.

His decision to stay was heavily influenced by a major overhaul of Yamaha’s MotoGP strategy, hiring ex-Ducati tech guru Bartolini, signing a satellite team (Pramac) and shifting development toward a V4 concept, set to debut in 2026.

Yamaha’s M1 is the only inline-four engine on the MotoGP grid, with rivals Ducati, Aprilia, KTM and Honda all running V4s.

Officially, Yamaha will only introduce the V4 if it outperforms the current inline engine in testing. 

But all signs point to Yamaha already expecting a V4 future, including a revised version to meet the new 850cc and Pirelli regulations in 2027.

For Quartararo, the change can’t come soon enough.

“I'm not enjoying on the bike and right now this is what I need. I need to enjoy. I need to feel the happiness of being at the front and this is what I really need right now, and this is why I'm putting a lot of pressure on them – because I have no more time,” he said.

“What I want to see is facts, and at the moment, I don't see anything.

“To be honest, we are still very far. But normally [if everything goes to plan] next year we'll have a completely new [bike] with the V4. I don't know if it's starting from zero or not, but I think it's something that also me, I needed – a change.

“The M1, I think, has reached pretty much its limit, and now we need to start with something new.

“But I need a winning project now.”

After finishing a career-worst 13th in the 2024 standings, Quartararo has shown flashes of frontrunning form this year, scoring a podium in Spain and claiming consecutive pole positions at Jerez, Le Mans and Silverstone.

His strongest victory chance came at Silverstone, where a ride-height failure while leading left him in tears.

But recent rounds at Aragon and Mugello have proven more frustrating.

"It’s two or three years where we’ve been trying to find a bit of grip and not done it," he said ahead of Assen. "I think all the riders are giving their maximum. Now it’s more in the hands of the engineers to give us something."

Quartararo entered the Dutch round holding tenth in the world championship - behind at least one rider from Ducati, Aprilia, KTM and Honda, but eight places clear of team-mate and next best Yamaha rider Alex Rins.

No rider has so far reclaimed the 500cc/MotoGP crown after a gap of more than three years.

Casey Stoner holds the current longest gap between premier-class titles, from 2007 to 2011, although current world championship leader Marc Marquez, whose last crown was in 2019, is on course to break that record.

Yamaha's V4 engine is currently undergoing early track tests, but is tipped to make a wild-card debut with development rider Augusto Fernandez later this season.