Yamaha admit “risk” that Honda will recruit Fabio Quartararo

Quartararo has made clear his displeasure at riding an uncompetitive bike which gave him no hope of competing for the MotoGP championship this year.

And the French rider has pinpointed next month’s Misano test - where Yamaha will trial their 2024 plans - as the moment he will understand if the future is bright or not.

Yamaha managing director Lin Jarvis was asked by GPOne if he feared losing Quartararo to Honda, and replied: “I don’t like the word ‘afraid’. 

“I am aware, and one of the risks comes from Honda.

“Because Honda will want a top rider, and Fabio is one.

“To keep him, we will have to have a competitive bike.

“We really must demonstrate with the facts that we are fully focused.”

Quartararo is contracted to Yamaha for 2024, where Alex Rins will be his new teammate instead of Franco Morbidelli.

“The rider market next year will show some interesting movements,” Jarvis said.

“Will Marc Marquez stay or retire, continue with Honda or another manufacturer?

“What I know is that we must change our development system.

“We are open, maybe we will have a V4 in the future. There is still potential in our package.”

Jarvis insisted that Yamaha can return to glory as the team who delivered Valentino Rossi’s heyday and Quartararo’s 2021 championship.

“This year we have lost our competitiveness,” he said. “But two years ago we won the world championship with Fabio.

“And we were leading the championship until mid-2022.

“The reality is that the European manufacturers have overtaken the Japanese.

“These are situations that can happen in motorsport, in F1 as well.

“Will this still be the case in 2024? We can’t know.

“We’re not that far away, we’re just losing enough to not be in Q2.”