Quartararo questions Yamaha future: “In meetings there is silence, no-one speaks

The 2021 MotoGP champion has endured a disappointing 2023 - aside from a podium at COTA - but has constantly been bemoaning his machinery.

Quartararo finished 10th in Jerez last weekend after causing red flags by crashing into Miguel Oliveira, but he sits 11th in the MotoGP standings.

"In meetings there is often silence, no one speaks,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport before the Jerez test. “Even today, nobody knows why we struggle so much, why the bike is so aggressive and I have no feeling. 

“That's what p***** me off, to see others doing these times today in difficult conditions and we don't even come close."

Asked if Yamaha’s bike was the most in trouble, Quartararo answered: "For me, yes."

The Frenchman is contracted to the Japanese manufacturer until the end of 2024 but has opened the door to looking elsewhere unless their fortunes improve.

“Now I just want to think about this year, but the time will come,” he said. 

“It will depend on the 2024 bike, if it will be like this year's I will certainly have to think of something different.”

Quartararo complained about the lack of power that his Yamaha had last season, bit their attempts to address that problem have created different issues.

Asked if only the engine was problematic, he said: "No. The engine has improved, although the gap is basically the same. 

“But once we struggled to stay ahead, today we didn't. Ok, we lack power, and this requires us not to take advantage of the aerodynamics, but we have lost the cornering, the stability. 

“We have added problems rather than solved them. In 2019 the wings were more or less the same, but the bike was more stable. 

“But you try to look at the Ducati from four years ago and now, you don't recognise it.”

Yamaha have only two riders, Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, after losing their satellite team to Aprilia - it has created additional headaches, including lagging behind Ducati’s ability to test via eight different riders.

“We struggle and everything is more difficult, not having the data of other riders,” he explained.

“Ducati has eight bikes, Morbidelli and I alone are really struggling.

“I'm not having so much fun. The first year of MotoGP was the best, every time I got on the bike I knew I was the limit. 

“From the following years, however, I have never seen major improvements. Even in 2021 when I won the World Championship I didn't have as much fun as in 2019.

"More motivation? No. Mine is always very high. But there is frustration, when you see that four years ago here I was running in 1'36"3 and today I did 1'37"5, how can you not be?"

Has Quartararo's mood improved after the Jerez test?

• Quartararo: Radio, chassis, aero and exhaust test - ‘little bit happier’

“It sounds totally different," he said. "Even on the bike, when you lean on the right, you hear the bike much more than when you are straight.

“It was to see if there was more top speed, but in this track top speed depends a lot on [your exit from] turn 5.”

Quartararo will head to the French MotoGP at Le Mans, his home race, to put the test into practice.