The 2021 world champion has renewed the contract that binds him to Yamaha for another two years – therefore until the end of 2026. The Japanese company has undertaken a revolution of men inside the garage, but the difference with its opponents remains great: why did Fabio sign?
April 5, 2024
#lanotiziainprimafila is dedicated to a somewhat unexpected announcement, even if there were some clues: Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha will be together until at least 2026.
Fabio has been with the Japanese manufacturer since his debut in MotoGP in 2019, the year in which he achieved six poles and seven podiums, coming close to winning on a couple of occasions.
In 2020 he receives an official M1 and in 2021 he switches to the internal team; in total, Quartararo has competed in 93 GPs with Yamaha so far, winning 11, for a total of 31 podiums and winning the world title in 2021.
From mid-2022, a seemingly endless crisis of results began, continuing into 2023, with 2024 still starting with great difficulties. “We are very far away” Quartararo repeated several times. So, why did he renew, knowing that it will be difficult to close the gap with Ducati, Aprilia and KTM in the next two years?
Let's try to see in detail.
Engagement
Many say: he only thought about money. It is certainly an important aspect: Yamaha can probably guarantee him a sum of around 10 million euros for two years, therefore higher than that of any other rider on the grid, including world champion Pecco Bagnaia.
Project
As underlined several times, the arrival of Max Bartolini from Ducati brought about an important change in mentality: it is clear that the results cannot be seen in a few months, but Fabio has often reiterated the great differences with the past. In short, he believes in it, he is convinced that Yamaha can become competitive again, even though he knows that it will unlikely happen before the regulation change in 2027.
Alternative
But what were Quartararo's real alternatives? Honda: No. It's true that “Honda is Honda”, but at the moment it's in a decidedly worse situation than Yamaha. Ducati: no. It already has too many riders, Fabio isn't interested. KTM: no. The same applies to Ducati: it already has too many riders , someone like Quartararo is of little interest. Aprilia: yes. Well, Quartararo's only concrete alternative was probably the Noale manufacturer. To get on the Italian bike, he would have had to give up a lot of money – let's assume half the salary -, but not only that: the The RS-GP proved to be very competitive, certainly superior to the Yamaha, but still with some limitations. Who knows, perhaps this is also what didn't completely convince Quartararo.
What are the positive aspects of this agreement? At least two: 1) The contract confirms that Yamaha continues to believe – and a lot – in MotoGP: it wasn't so obvious; 2) Quartararo can become a flag, an icon of Yamaha. After all, Kevin Schwantz also won “only” one world title with Suzuki, but the Schwantz/Suzuki image is part of the history of motorcycling. Quartararo can do the same with Yamaha.
This is today's #frontlinenews, I would like to know your opinion.
