Fabio Quattararo will leave Yamaha when his contract expires at the end of the 2026 season and has even agreed a deal to join the team’s Japanese rivals Honda.
Yamaha He had hope of extinction. Quatararo They agree to sign a new contract with the Iwata group. The 2021 MotoGP champion is at the helm of the Yamaha project, but wanted to jump ship before racing the new V4-engined YZR-M1, which will debut in 2026.
The 26-year-old has scored more points in 2025 than any other Yamaha factory contract rider. Quatararo led the way with 201 points, Jack Miller with 79, Alex Rins with 68 and Miguel Oliveira with 43.
However, Quattroro’s wait until Race 72 for another Grand Prix win became impatient with Yamaha. In the year In 2022, the Iwata native took his latest Grand Prix victory in Germany, where the Nice native leads the 2022 riders’ championship by 34 points.
Who do you want as George Martin’s 2027 Yamaha team partner?
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Fabio Quattararo’s ‘frustration’ at Paolo Pavesio helped him join Honda.
Quattararo wanted to help Yamaha get back to the top of MotoGP.But at the end of 2025, he admitted that his “goals” have changed to focus on his own results. And Motorsport.com As reported now Quattararo has agreed to join Honda on a two-year contract. From 2027, as well.
Read more: The best moments of Fabio Quartararo’s MotoGP career
Yamaha’s failure to deliver a race-winning bike made Quartararo the highest-paid rider in MotoGP when they last signed a new contract in April 2024. The ‘disappointment’ didn’t help them either. Paolo Pavesio replacing Lynn Jarvis at the helm of Yamaha.
Pavesio was appointed managing director of Yamaha’s motorsport division in January 2025 and Jarvis took a ‘different approach’ to how he handled rider relations. Quartararo did not like Pavesio’s approach and stated that they had little to say at the end of 2025.
“I don’t talk much with Paolo,” Quatararo told Motorsport.com in Australia. The people I want are the ones in the garage, I’m not talking to him, I’m talking to the engineers.
Fabio Quattararo’s move to Honda isn’t a big vote of confidence for Yamaha’s 850cc bike.
Who will be the next ‘Fantastic Four’?
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Quartararo is posing a risk by agreeing to join Honda in 2027, as he would have joined any team before the rule change. LCR rider Yohan Zarco won the 2025 French Grand Prix at Le Mans.
Honda They still have to decide who Quartararo will be paired with in Tokyo next season Joan Mir And Luca Marini Both are out of contract at the end of the 2026 MotoGP season. Honda will offer Mir and Marini a new contract In the year Before the 850cc regulations in 2027.
It remains to be seen if Yamaha will allow the Quattroro to play an additional role in the development of their bike for the 850cc regulations. The Frenchman’s decision to sign for Honda ahead of the new rules does not serve as a big vote of confidence in Yamaha’s 2027 project.
But George Martin seems to believe in what Yamaha is selling when it comes to their 850cc bike. On the same day that it was announced that Quartararo had agreed to join Honda, according to reports Yamaha are close to reaching an agreement to sign Martin. Once the Aprilia contract expires this year.
