Yamaha given "aligned" feedback from four riders to fix "problems"

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo says the first half of the 2025 MotoGP season has been “a tough one”.

Coming into the 2025 campaign, Yamaha appeared to have been the marque to have made the biggest step forward with its package after a difficult 2024 season.

And though there have been tangible gains on last year, with Fabio Quartararo qualifying on pole four times and scoring two podiums across grands prix and sprints, the Japanese marque sits last in the manufacturers’ standings after the 12 rounds.

Yamaha’s one-lap pace hasn’t been backed up often by good race performances, with the M1 struggling to switch on its tyres in the early stages, while power remains a problem.

Despite this, 2021 world champion Quartararo is ninth in the standings and just seven points behind LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco - who has won a grand prix already this season.

“I think on the qualifying it’s been much better than expected,” Quartararo said.

“On the race, we expected a bit better, especially in the first five laps.

“But it has been a tough one [first half of the season] and I hope that we can make a step in the second [part].”

Read more: The startling improvements from MotoGP's Japanese manufacturers in 2025

Yamaha riders 'aligned' with problems

In recent weeks, Quartararo has been putting pressure on Yamaha to deliver him a winning project soon as he gets set to hit the open rider market for 2027 when his current deal runs out.

Team-mate Alex Rins has struggled in 2025, with his best result a 10th-place at the German Grand Prix - which was a distant last in that crash-strewn race.

After 12 rounds, Rins is 60 points adrift of Quartararo down in 18th in the standings.

Reflecting on the campaign so far, Rins said: “Yamaha knows the problems that we are feeling.

“The four riders, we are quite aligned with the problems that we have.

“We need, they need, to work hard, to not give up. There is an easy way, which will be ok until now.

“And that’s it. But it’s not the way that I want to work. It’s not the way that I think. So, let’s stay together and work.”