Fabio Quartararo has laid bare the scale of Yamaha’s deficit with its new V4 MotoGP project, admitting the turnaround could take anything from a few months to the entirety of the 2026 season.
Yamaha undertook a daunting task over the winter to effectively build a brand-new bike after abandoning its long-running inline-four engine in favour of a V4 powerplant.
The Japanese manufacturer largely struggled for performance and reliability during pre-season testing, with Quartararo even seen showing the middle finger to his bike on Saturday amid growing frustration with the way the project is progressing.
At the end of the two-day Buriram test, all four Yamaha riders finished a second off the pace, with Pramac’s Jack Miller leading the quartet in 16th ahead of factory rider Quartararo.
While the gap to the front was quite significant, Quartararo was more concerned by the fact that his new V4-powered M1 was slower than its predecessor over long runs: “We can see we are still seven, eight tenths slower than last year’s race simulation in the test. I think that is a long process and we need a few more months to be ready.”
Yamaha had to pause its testing programme at Sepang earlier this month to investigate a safety issue with its V4 powerplant.
Although the root cause was identified within 24 hours, the Iwata-based manufacturer continued to restrict engine mileage at Buriram, sticking to the limits it had set before the start of pre-season testing.
“Today, the mileage of the engines was over, so we had only one bike,” Quartararo explained. “For what we needed to do today it was enough, because today was more about the setting and everything. Still, we didn’t really find a direction. For maybe the first half of the year, we need to figure out how it is going, and try to improve our bike.”
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Asked how difficult it would be to spend the first quarter of the year focusing on bike development, rather than chasing results, Quartararo warned that Yamaha may need as much as the entire 2026 season to make its new bike competitive.
“I think it will be all year, to be honest, because I think that we cannot find all that we need super quickly,” he said.
“It will be challenging because as a rider you want to fight for the victory or at least try to make pole positions or front rows like last year. But we see that we are still very far from that and we will work as much as we can.”
While the new V4 engine lacks outright power, Quartararo feels there are other areas where the 2026-spec M1 is struggling.
“I think the engine is a big step [where] improvement [is required] but not only that,” he said. “The turning of the bike right now and the grip are the weakest point.
“Of course, the power is not there but the weakest point for me is that I am not able to turn, I am not able to really make lap times go smoothly.
“If we check our race simulation, I am in the high 1m30s, low 30s, low 31s, but I am struggling because the tyre already is so much [worn]. We saw Jack [Miller] trying to make a long run up while he was lapping in high 32s. The bike is spinning straight, so there are many things to improve.”
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