Fabio Quartararo comments on Aprilia’s interest - and why he rejected them

Fabio Quartararo has spoken about Aprilia’s interest in him.

Quartararo reportedly rejected a €4m-per-year offer from Aprilia to pen a new deal with Yamaha, worth three times the amount.

Now the highest-paid rider in MotoGP, he explained at the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas why he chose to stick with his underperforming team.

"I have spoken with all the brands,” Quartararo told DAZN.

“Aprilia was one of the brands that I liked, because it is different.

“There are not so many riders on the same bike.

“But in the end we have had all the papers of all the brands on the table and the project I really liked was Yamaha in the future.

"In Portugal we have had a fairly long discussion with the management of Yamaha, and the engineers, to see in more detail the entire project between now and the end of the year, 2025 and 2026.

“We have seen very interesting things, things that I cannot tell yet.

“Really seeing Yamaha's interest in me has been one of the reasons why I decided to be in the team.

"It has more to do with structure, technical things, people...

“Yamaha is investing a lot to develop the motorcycle. It already started in January 2024.

“The arrival of engineers with experience in other brands has seen that very important things were missing for the capacity of the motorcycle and Yamaha is investing to do everything very quickly and in the best way.

"Things are coming for this year and many more for the future.”

Massimo Bartolini was later name-checked as crucial. The ex-Ducati engineer has joined Yamaha to be their technical director.

Quartararo’s Yamaha still lags behind the Aprilias which he rejected.

In Texas this weekend, he and teammate Alex Rins can again display their bike’s development on the track.

But Quartararo’s decision to stay with Yamaha was ultimately a long-term, and a lucrative, choice.

The knock-on effect for Aprilia’s bid to establish themselves as Ducati’s top challengers is to decide whether to stick with their experienced duo of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales for next year.