Fabio Quartararo believes that he delivered his best performance this season, despite finishing the season in 13th place in the rider standings.
The 2021 champion faced several challenges as he rode the underperforming Yamaha. The Japanese manufacturer fell further behind its European competitors during the offseason.

Yamaha’s aggressive development strategy began to show promise in the latter half of the season, allowing Quartararo to even achieve a top-five finish at Sepang. However, despite this late improvement, Quartararo endured his toughest season yet, as he failed to secure a single podium finish.

While acknowledging the disappointing results, Quartararo took pride in maximizing the bike’s potential and contributing to the M1’s development.

“In terms of riding and working with the team, I think this has been my best season,” Quartararo said at the Barcelona season finale. “In terms of results, it’s clearly the worst. I learned to stay calm and focus on improving the bike as much as possible. Of course, there were moments of frustration, but they were brief.

“The hard work this year has been incredible. Naturally, I hoped for faster progress, but we’ve found a path forward. On a personal level and in terms of riding, I feel like I achieved something extra.”

Yamaha was the only manufacturer in 2024 without a satellite team, leaving it with just two bikes to gather data. Adding to its difficulties, Alex Rins missed several races due to injury, and test rider Cal Crutchlow was sidelined for much of the year following hand surgery.

For 2025, Yamaha has addressed these issues. Pramac will join as a satellite team with factory-spec bikes, and Tech3 rider Augusto Fernandez will bolster Yamaha’s test team. This expanded lineup is expected to put Yamaha on more equal footing with its rivals.

Quartararo emphasized that the limited number of riders was a key factor in Yamaha’s struggles this season.

“Our biggest issue this year was the lack of riders,” he said. “With Cal injured, we didn’t have a test rider. We were essentially on our own. Next year, with another factory team and an improved test setup, things should be much better.”

Quartararo also noted progress since the Misano 2 race, where Yamaha’s development efforts began to show. “We’ve only missed Q2 once since Misano 1. The progress is there, and I think next year we’ll see even faster improvements.”