MotoGP: Does Quartararo regret his criticism of Yamaha? The answer from Misano

The French rider isn’t having a good time in the Yamaha garage, and his latest statements have raised tensions between the parties: how will the relationship continue through the end of 2026?

Fabio Quartararo’s adventure with Yamaha is ending very badly, despite having brought them back to the MotoGP riders’ title in 2021, six years after Jorge Lorenzo’s triumph in his fiery duel with Valentino Rossi. After rediscovering success thanks above all to the extraordinary talent of the French rider, the Iwata manufacturer began its decline in the premier class of the World Championship.

In 2025 there were some signs of improvement compared to the previous two seasons, but the decision to introduce the V4 engine in 2026 has compromised this championship. It’s still a very raw and limited engine, and it’s hard to predict whether it will make a significant performance leap by the end of the year. In any case, it’s a project that serves as a stepping stone to 2027, the year of the new technical regulations in which Yamaha hopes to return to competitiveness.

At the Misano World Circuit, where MotoGP is racing this weekend, Quartararo was asked whether he regretted the statements he made after Aragon, and he said: "It’s not a question of regret or not. Out of frustration we said things that might not have been correct. We had a meeting together last week, everything was resolved and now things are fairly normal."

He was used to fighting for important results, and having to adapt to a completely different situation hasn’t been easy for Quartararo, who knows he also went too far in front of the media: "You never get used to tough times, there’s always frustration when you don’t get what you want. It doesn’t matter if we know our package isn’t at the level we want, you don’t get used to it: I’m competitive and I want to fight. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be having fun and I wouldn’t want to race anymore. That’s why sometimes my frustration is very high. I just need to say the right words at the right time."

Will we see a different way of communicating from now on? Who knows... He certainly can’t wait to leave the Yamaha team and start his new adventure in the Honda HRC garage, where he still has no guarantees of being competitive right away. With the new technical regulations and the new Pirelli tires, it’s impossible to predict who will be fast and who won’t.

The topic of a psychologist also came up and Quartararo admitted he went when he felt he needed it; today, the situation doesn’t push him to seek out a specialist again: "I worked with a psychologist in the past, he said, and it can help. I was in Moto2 and the issue wasn’t the bike, it was myself. I haven’t gone for a year and a half. Now I feel good about myself, but not with the bike. At this moment I don’t need a psychologist; in the past I knew I needed one and I went six or seven times."

The problem is the Yamaha M1, not the French rider. With a competitive bike he would be capable of getting results—he’s already proven it and hopes to prove it again when he dons Honda HRC colors.