Fabio Quartararo has admitted he’s “riding for the sake of riding” as Yamaha continues to struggle with direction on his bike. The 2021 world champion finished outside the points at Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.
He was beaten by satellite duo Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller, coming home in 17th place, with only teammate Alex Rins behind him on the road.
Quartararo also missed out on points in the Sprint (P11) and sits 17th in the championship standings after three rounds, with just six points. Struggles continue as Yamaha falls further behind.
Once again outpaced by several Ducati riders and even a satellite Honda, Quartararo sounded resigned after another frustrating weekend.
MotoGP Standings After Round Three
Quartararo currently holds a six-point lead over Rins in what could become an intra-team battle for one of MotoGP’s most storied manufacturers. As it stands, Ducati have scored more points than Yamaha did throughout all of last season.
The fourth round of the MotoGP season will head to Jerez, Spain, from April 26-28th. It remains to be seen whether either Fabio or Yamaha can find solutions before then.
Fabio Quartararo Struggling to Find Positives in Yamaha Setup
Yamaha was braced for a challenging development year after moving to a V4 engine, and with the Spanish GP at Jerez approaching, the timing usually aligns with teams rolling out early-season upgrades.
However, speaking after the US GP, Quartararo admitted that Yamaha is “riding for the sake of riding”, and doesn’t know how to improve his M1. He was by far their best rider last year, but even that is now under threat as he’s “losing the feeling”.
The 2021 MotoGP world champion has already given up hope of a turnaround at Yamaha, with his future expected to be at Honda from next season.
“The problem isn’t that I’m waiting for them to do something, it’s that they have no idea what they can do,” he said, via AutoHebdo. “I really don’t feel good on the bike.”
“The others feel a little better, not Alex, but Jack and Toprak. I really don’t feel good on the bike, I’m pushing, but I have no feeling. I’m riding for the sake of riding, I’m racing to try and do my best, but I can’t find anything positive.”
Fabio Quartararo’s struggles continue with another difficult race at Circuit of the Americas
It’s the first time Quartararo has finished back-to-back races outside the points since his Moto2 days in 2018, marking a new low in his time at the top level.
Last year, even with Yamaha’s well-documented power disadvantage, he was still able to secure five pole positions. This season’s bike, however, seems to be lacking even those small positives and is noticeably off the pace.
Quartararo had previously estimated that “80%” of Yamaha’s issues were down to the engine after the Brazilian GP. Even if improvements come later this season, it may be too late to change his plans for 2026.
Some believe that Quartararo is now focused on making a clean exit from Yamaha ahead of his expected switch to Honda and might not push as hard as he usually would for the rest of this campaign.
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