2021 MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo admitted that he felt he was “ready to leave” the Yamaha MotoGP outfit after the 2024 season.
The Frenchman has only ridden for the Japanese marque since joining the sport’s premier class in 2019, starting with the satellite Petronas SRT until swapping with Valentino Rossi for the factory team in 2021.
Quartararo is Yamaha’s most recent champion, having won the championship in 2021. However, since then, the Japanese marque has struggled and fallen behind its rivals and is trailing at the back of the grid with fellow Japanese giant Honda.
Quartararo and Yamaha’s relationship appeared to have dwindled heading into 2024 following a disastrous 2023 season in which he did not feature on the rostrum once.
Speaking in an interview with ‘Legend‘ on YouTube, the Frenchman stated: “Yamaha is a legendary team.
“My dream, when I was little, was to go there because Valentino Rossi was there.
“I was ready to leave this brand; even though it was my dream team, I felt ready to leave.”
Despite the precarious situation, Yamaha restored Quartararo with some much-needed faith that it could challenge at the front once more.
“And Yamaha made some very big changes. They have made a big investment in the project, hiring a lot of new engineers.
“Even for the brand, for Yamaha, it is not good to be so far behind in its market.
“Unfortunately, you can’t get back to the top in [a few] weeks or months; I think it’s more like years.
“That’s what made me take the decision to stay at Yamaha, seeing meetings with people who came from other brands, who were working on very big projects .
“That’s what made me take the step of renewing with Yamaha for the next two years.”
Yamaha acquired Ducati’s Max Bartolini as its new technical director for 2024, which played a big role in Quartararo opting to extend his stay with the Japanese giant.
Fabio Quartararo picked Yamaha over Aprilia
Quartararo was linked with an Aprilia move before penning a two-year contract extension early in the 2024 season, which set the 2025 rider market into a frenzy.
Yamaha has benefited from MotoGP’s new concession rulings which allow it to test new parts to the bikes in various private tests.
The 25-year-old once made comparisons to riding the Yamaha as a “test rider”, given that the team are trying new parts at every race weekend.
When reflecting on his darkest days with the team in 2022 and 2023, he admits that his on-track performances affected his mental well-being.
“I’ve had problems with the bike and also mental problems, I think,” he added.
“In the end, when you spend four years fighting for the title and one year you finish tenth, it’s strange.
“It even makes you doubt yourself, thinking, ‘is it me, what’s happening?’
“In the last two years, we haven’t improved at all, and the others have made a big step forward.
“At the moment, we’re still behind, but I think I’ve learned a lot about staying calm and above all [trying] to make the bike evolve in the best way possible.
“But it’s true that mentally it wasn’t easy.”
