Yamaha updates brought to Silverstone to improve "handling of the bike", says Quartararo

Fabio Quartararo will be testing new parts at this weekend's British MotoGP, he confirmed.

The 2021 world champion has been leading Yamaha's project for the last two seasons, and in that time frame has been a leading reason as to why the Japanese brand are attempting to speed up their recovery to the front of MotoGP.

Asked if anything has been worked on during the summer-break, Quartararo said: "Yes they have. We will see during the weekend. They did something. 

"I think about what we can do but until you are putting all the things on the track you can't see where you will end up. 

"Tomorrow afternoon the goal is clearly to be in Q2 and if we are not it means the improvement was not enough."

With regards to the areas of the bike that the new updates will focus on, Quartararo stated: "Especially the handling of the bike. The handling of the bike which was in the past a strong point, is now our weak point. 

"We have to come back a bit in this area. Now our engine is faster but we are not turning and we are not stopping. 

"There are many areas where we are struggling. Let's see with the handling if we can be better and faster. 

"When you look for something you always sacrifice something else. Let's see if it is big but for sure we will sacrifice something for having better handling." 

Yamaha "working in a really good way"

While the start of the season was very tough for Yamaha, reasons improvements have been noticeable.

And Quartararo expects to keep that trend heading in the right direction in the second half of the year.

"Hopefully better than the first one," said the Frenchman when discussing his hopes for the second half of the campaign. 

"We are working in a really good way. The break has been good, especially for me and for Yamaha to thing about different things. 

"I think from this race we can find a direction of improvement, but let's see. 

"Every time you think something is going to be much better and it's not, so I want to wait for tomorrow and see on Friday how good we can be." 

Later this year a new engine will be available for Quartararo to test, but the Yamaha rider was keen to stress that receiving it at the manufacturer's home round won't be soon enough.

"I'm pushing to have it as fast as possible," said Quartararo. "Japan is still really far away so this is why I want to push and to know a bit the direction we have to go for the future. 

"I would like to have it tomorrow but it's going to be difficult but I'm pushing every day to have it. 

"If we can have it in Misano, Aragon or whatever, but I want to have it as soon as possible."

Although it's not yet been confirmed, Alex Rins will be staying alongside Quartararo at the factory team in 2025.

And Quartararo is pleased by it: "I think it's great. Also, Alex [Rins] has done a good job this year and the feedback has been the same as me even if the riding style if completely different. 

"Next year with two more bikes, and the testing that is going to evaluate, will be nice. We are working on a really good way."