Fabio Quartararo and the Heartbreak Grand Prix: where his relationship with Yamaha started to crack

Silverstone calls Quartararo, with multiple goals: forget 2025, silence Yamaha’s doubts, and relaunch himself before the Honda era.

The images from the 2025 Silverstone Grand Prix went around the world: Fabio Quartararo, a clear dominator up to that point, collapsed in tears next to his Yamaha, stopped by a technical KO and left against the pit wall. It’s hard not to think that was the moment when the Frenchman, the 2021 MotoGP world champion with the three tuning forks brand, suffered his worst disappointment, enough to seriously start considering leaving. Tempting options hadn’t been lacking before either, but Quartararo kept believing in Yamaha (though some say he stayed more for the hefty paycheck than for the project). From 2027 the rider and the brand will part ways, it’s already official, after a winning period followed by a spell of disappointment, as shown by the current struggles not only for him, but for all Yamahas, further emphasized by the clearly very raw V4 project that has added more problems...

“It was nice to have some time to recharge during the summer break, and now I’m ready to get back to racing at Silverstone. It’s a track I really like and I know I can be competitive. Even if last year’s race didn’t end as we’d hoped, we’ve had positive moments at Silverstone. We’ll keep working hard this weekend too to try to get a good result.” In his pre-GP statements via Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo remains diplomatic, but it’s undeniable that what happened last year still stings a lot. For the first time in a long while, Yamaha’s spearhead was in front by a wide margin, no one seemed able to keep his pace... But the low blow came from his very own M1, which let him down at the crucial moment, handing Marco Bezzecchi his first win with Aprilia. This year, miracles can’t be expected, but surely Quartararo and Yamaha will do everything possible to forget Silverstone 2025.

-> Follow us on Instagram: @Corsedimoto