Fabio Quartararo’s sobering Yamaha claim: ‘They’ve no idea how to fix the problems’

Fabio Quartararo has issued his most damning assessment yet of Yamaha’s MotoGP struggles, claiming “the team has no idea how to fix all of the problems we have".

Yamaha’s 2026 season has been difficult across the first three rounds, as it has found little performance from its new V4 bike.

At the United States Grand Prix, it was as high as 16th on the grid with Fabio Quartararo, who was almost six tenths away from the best pace in Q1, before Toprak Razgatlioglu finished 15th in Sunday’s race.

While it marked his first points in MotoGP, he was 25.549s from race winner Marco Bezzecchi, while Quartararo faded to 17th.

The 2021 world champion is its leading rider in the standings in 17th on six points, while Yamaha has just nine in the constructors’ rankings.

“We had a really bad time”

Quartararo was blunt in his assessment of the COTA weekend and of the season ahead when speaking to Canal+ after the grand prix.

“Honestly, I don't think there's anything to take away from a race like this,” he said.

“We had a really bad time this Sunday; the bike changes a lot.

“I try to do things a little differently, experiment during the race, because in the end we're so far behind that I've been able to try some small details, but it's clear that it's not working.

“I'm already expecting it to be a very long season.

“The team has no idea how to fix all the problems we have with the bike.

“But I think, mentally, we need to stay calm.

“We've already raced once - that’s one less - and we have a month's break ahead of us, so that will be good for us to completely disconnect.”

These comments come just weeks after Yamaha elected not to put its riders in front of the media after the Thai Grand Prix, instead sending team boss Paolo Pavesio in their place.

Quartararo has already been heavily linked to a move to Honda for the 2027 season, though nothing has been confirmed yet.

All rider contracts for 2027 appear to held up by ongoing discussions between MotoGP’s manufacturers and championship bosses over a new commercial agreement for next year.