“Nothing changed” in Yamaha MotoGP box despite Fabio Quartararo demands

Despite admitting that he will leave Yamaha for the 2027 MotoGP season if its 2026 bike is not competitive enough, Fabio Quartararo’s demands to the Iwata marque have had no impact on the working atmosphere inside the factory team’s pit box, says Team Director Massimo Meregalli.

Quartararo’s displeasure with the Yamaha MotoGP project – which he renewed with for the 2025 and 2026 seasons during 2024 – has become more apparent since the summer break, especially thanks to particularly difficult weekends such as that at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Yamaha’s V4 debuted in race conditions in San Marino in September, and Quartararo – as well as Jack Miller and Alex Rins – has been able to sample the, for Yamaha, revolutionary machine.

But his first impressions were not entirely glowing, and, after another mixed weekend that saw him on pole position after qualifying but outside the top-10 after the race in Australia, the French rider reinforced his position ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix that the performance of Yamaha’s V4 M1 at the beginning of 2026 will be crucial to his decision on whether to stay or leave.

Despite these demands, Monster Energy Yamaha Team Director Massimo Meregalli says there is “nothing changed” inside the garage at the factory Yamaha team.

“The box is nothing changed,” Meregalli told the MotoGP world feed during Practice in Sepang.

“We just do our job and we are absolutely committed to try to be where we would like to be. 

“I think we had always the commitment that we have. 

“[We brought] a completely new bike to try to get information about the new regulations. 

“Difficult to say where we are and what will be in a few months. We are just following the plan and for sure we are not scared about the job that’s in front of us.”

The success of the V4 bike is clearly central to Yamaha’s possibility to retain Quartararo beyond the end of next year. Meregalli says the bike will be back on-track a the Valencian Grand Prix in November, and that all four Yamaha riders – meaning including rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu – will have a V4 bike to ride in the post-race test in Valencia.

“In the beginning this race [Malaysia] was not in our plan, but we really wanted to do a wildcard in a really hot condition just to [test] the bike as much as possible,” Meregalli said.

“The next will be Valencia.”

He added: “In Valencia, all of our riders will have one V4 in the garage.”