“Fully focused on 850” - Fabio Quartararo “not expecting” Yamaha MotoGP upgrades

Fabio Quartararo says he is not expecting any significant Yamaha upgrades and is instead focused on making the most of the current V4 package during his remaining MotoGP races with the manufacturer.

The Frenchman dropped from sixth to ninth place, where he had finished the Sachsenring Sprint, during a hectic opening lap in Sunday's German Grand Prix.

That became eighth when Fabio di Giannantonio crashed, then seventh following Alex Marquez's retirement on lap nine.

Quartararo then kept that position to the chequered flag.

“I nearly crashed in turn three on the opening lap. Then, I touched with Jorge in turn five. Then, he went a bit optimistic in turn eight! But I'm not complaining; this is racing,” Quartararo said.

“We exit super bad from turn seven, considering the grip we have. And actually Jorge, Pecco, and Acosta overtook me there. And then I remained in the same position during all the race.”

He added: “My goal was to finish P9 because the pace was exactly the same as yesterday. I mean, that was going to be a great result [for us], and then Alex and Diggia crashed, so we finished P7.”

The former MotoGP champion, who gave Yamaha its most recent victory at the same circuit in 2022, again finished as the manufacturer's leading rider after being outpaced by Pramac's Jack Miller in Friday practice.

“On Friday, I wanted the bike I raced today. The set-up. But the team wanted to try something different that we used in Assen, but actually on Saturday morning we went back to this bike, and I was faster,” he said.

Quartararo, whose move to Honda for 2027 is still awaiting official confirmation, intends to stick with his preferred package.

“This is the bike I raced in Le Mans [and Barcelona],” he said.

“It's interesting to see that all the best results I've managed to get this year are with this bike, with this setup.”

With Yamaha now "fully focused" on developing its 2027 850cc MotoGP machine, Quartararo is not expecting any improvements to the current bike.

“Even if I knew I was not staying at Yamaha from the beginning of the season, I expected something from them as an improvement. Because I want to feel better for me, as results, but also for the brand," he said.

“But now I know that they are fully focused on the 850. So, of course, I don't expect nothing. I'm not asking for anything, but just trying to maximise everything [we have already].”

Quartararo, whose best finish this season is sixth in Catalunya, starts the summer break 14th in the world championship, but with double the points of the next-best Yamaha rider and factory team-mate Alex Rins.