Too much talk": Quartararo quashes the rumors, but the 2027 market is already on fire

Fabio Quartararo is brief and vague: just a few words to comment on the sensational market bombshell.

Inevitably, a few comments on the news of the day couldn’t be missing, namely that Fabio Quartararo seems ready to leave Yamaha for Honda. The three days of the Shakedown in Sepang are underway (here is today’s report), and Yamaha is the only manufacturer that has been able to bring both its two test riders and all the factory riders. The rider market for 2027 is already in full swing, and it seems there are quite a few sensational moves in the works—one of which is the possibility that Yamaha’s last flag-bearer (he has raced with this brand for his entire MotoGP career so far) could leave the Iwata project to embark on a new challenge. But what does the man himself think?

In a short video posted on MotoGP’s official social channels, Quartararo is asked to respond precisely to yesterday’s market bombshell. The answers are very concise. “Too much chatter” is the first comment from the 2021 world champion, made in Yamaha colors, accompanied by an eloquent hand gesture. “Let’s focus on what we can focus on.” That is, the current V4 project, in which all of Iwata’s hopes are pinned. But perhaps not Fabio Quartararo’s, who is certainly doing his math and working on his contract for next season, given that, like everyone else’s, it expires at the end of 2026. His final response is simply the zip-the-lips gesture, and that’s the end of it.

The first official tests won’t be until next week, three teams still have to show up (Gresini Ducati, Honda HRC Castrol, Pro Honda LCR), and the 2026 season will only start in a month. Yet the 2027 rider market has long since kicked off, and rumors of all kinds about the fates of the premier class riders didn’t start just yesterday, with no shortage of potential revolutionary moves. Time flies—2027 is practically tomorrow—but talking about the future before the season has even started is becoming a bad habit…