Fabio Quartararo didn’t hold back in his post-race assessment of the 2025 Italian MotoGP, calling Yamaha’s performance at Mugello “a disaster” after fading from fifth on the grid to 14th at the finish — ahead of only test riders and a rookie.
Despite riding through shoulder pain from a crash on Friday, Quartararo said the bigger issue was Yamaha’s chronic lack of rear grip in hot, low-grip conditions.
“Today, my shoulder felt bad, of course, but it wasn’t the worst,” he said. “The bike this weekend didn’t feel great at all apart from FP1 and the time attack. In the Sprint I felt a tyre drop, and today was even worse.”
Quartararo, who won at Mugello in 2021 during his title-winning campaign, had qualified a strong fourth. But his promising grid spot couldn’t translate into results. He finished 10th in Saturday’s Sprint and was over 26 seconds off the win on Sunday.
“Our bike — when grip is super low — is really a disaster on changing direction. And physically it was really tough,” he added. “The hotter it is, the less grip we have.”
The Frenchman’s pace fell apart in the closing stages of the grand prix, with lap times dropping into the 1m49s — more than two seconds off his best. “Physically, I was done,” Quartararo admitted. “The last six laps I was just surviving. I couldn’t brake properly.”
He was overtaken by Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira before the finish, while teammate Alex Rins finished two seconds behind him. The only riders Quartararo managed to beat were Takaaki Nakagami (Honda), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia), and rookie Somkiat Chantra (Honda) — all non-factory entries.
“Only two test riders and one rookie were behind us,” he said. “We really have to ask ourselves some serious questions. When conditions get tougher, our performance drops too much.”
Despite earlier season highs, including poles and a podium at Jerez, Quartararo is now left searching for answers — particularly on tracks where he’s traditionally performed well.
“I didn’t expect to be this far behind — especially at a place like Mugello where I’ve always been fast.”
