Fabio Quartararo says Yamaha’s biggest breakthrough during the final season of its Inline MotoGP era came through electronics, as focus gradually shifted toward the brand’s future V4 project.
The 2021 world champion admitted he doesn’t yet know whether he will miss the Inline M1 once Yamaha switches to a V4 next season, insisting that judgment will depend entirely on the competitiveness of the new bike.
“Maybe I will miss it, or maybe not,” Quartararo said late in the 2025 season. “We don’t know how next year’s bike will be. Of course, moving to the V4 will be a good change, but maybe next year I’ll miss this one. It’s also a new step in my career.”
Quartararo has spent his entire MotoGP career riding Yamaha’s Inline-four machine, amassing 11 victories, 32 podiums and the 2021 world title. After a difficult 2024 season, he returned to the podium at Jerez in 2025 and was on course for victory at Silverstone before a ride-height device failure ended his chances. He later added two Sprint podiums.
However, Quartararo acknowledged that development on the Inline M1 slowed as Yamaha increasingly prioritised the 2026 V4 bike.
“I think the engineers were more focused on the 2026 bike,” he said. “Unfortunately, the improvement during the season was quite limited. But I hope it’s for a good reason, to have a really competitive bike for 2026.”
When asked to highlight the most significant progress made during the Inline bike’s final season, Quartararo pointed clearly to electronics.
“We improved the engine power step by step, but not enough,” he explained. “We worked a lot on the electronics this year. The biggest step was understanding how I can adapt better and be faster with less electronic support.”
Quartararo ended the 2025 season ninth in the championship, almost doubling his points tally compared to 2024. The next-best Yamaha rider was Pramac’s Jack Miller, who finished 17th.
