Disillusioned, Quartararo "isn't expecting much" from Monday's tests

Once again, unfortunately, the Yamahas were relegated to a spectator role during the Spanish Grand Prix. MotoGPBest representative of the Iwata brand upon arrival, fabio quartararo had to settle for fourteenth position, ahead of Joan Mir's Honda, who had to serve two long-lap penalties for riding with a bike that was losing parts during Free Practice 2 on Saturday morning.

Speaking to the media, including AUTOhebdo, the Nice native had little to say about a Grand Prix that ultimately resembled the first three rounds of the 2026 season, where the new V4 engine hasn't allowed the Yamaha YZR-M1 to work miracles. Augusto Fernández's wildcard entry doesn't seem to have significantly improved the situation.

"Nothing happened, honestly! I don't have much to say. I tried driving differently to see if another driving style could help us. Unfortunately, it didn't. I don't have much to say about the race."

Having secured pole position on the same circuit in 2025, Quartararo was far from reaching Q2 this time, in difficult conditions. While the 2021 world champion knows what he wants from his machine, Yamaha's engineers' ability to deliver it quickly seems rather limited. With official tests scheduled for Monday, Quartararo isn't expecting miracles, given that he already tested all the new parts brought by the factory team this past weekend.

"You don't lose 30 seconds because of a lack of grip."

“I know exactly what I need, but it’s not so easy to get it right on the bike. We already tried almost everything we’ll have during testing this weekend—the new chassis, the wings—so I’m not expecting much from the test, certainly not a major improvement. Last year, the bike wasn’t so bad, but it had two big weaknesses: grip and power. The problem is that right now we don’t have any strengths. There’s nothing I can say I feel comfortable with, whether it’s braking, entering corners, mid-corner, or exiting—I don’t have grip, the bike doesn’t turn, we have a lot of problems. There’s a lot of work to do, and even if we improve one area, there will still be four that are bad!” We need to make big strides forward, because last year I finished two seconds behind Álex and this year I'm 35. I'm not stupid, I remember how to ride, so it's not really in my hands; it's not because of a lack of rear grip that we're losing more than 30 seconds.

With his next race being his home Grand Prix at Le Mans in two weeks, the Yamaha rider hopes for nothing more than to please his many fans: " Sincerely, Le Mans "It will be more of a race to try and entertain the fans rather than to enjoy the ride itself."

Interview by Luca Bartolomeo, in Jerez (Spain)

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