Fabio Quartararo: 'I’m not thinking about my contract, it’s not a distraction'

Yamaha’s poor start to the 2024 MotoGP season could see them lose its most prized asset in Fabio Quartararo.

Already linked with Aprilia, Quartararo was keen not to get involved in discussions about his future, although he did admit that close friend Thomas Maubant is in charge of negotiations. 

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“I don’t have a manager but Tom [Maubant] is taking care of that,” said Quartararo in Portimao. “He is doing a manager’s job with me and he is one of the only people I trust 100%.

“This is why I gave him this job last year. He is taking care of talking and negotiations. I’m not thinking about the contracts.

“We already had some talks with friends but it is not a distraction for me. It is not information I have in my mind when I’m riding.”

Quartararo is a two-time race winner with Yamaha at Portimao, but given their ongoing struggles, a repeat result appears to be very unlikely.

Asked about his chances, Quartararo said: “Being honest, low. But we have to be positive and try to bring the most that we can.

“Of course, I’m not really thinking about the victory. For me, getting into Q2 directly is something super important.

“We will try to qualify well and then see in the two races.”

While Qatar was a nightmare weekend for the Japanese brand, having no testing during the same week as the race event could give Quartararo and Yamaha more opportunity.

Asked if he expects to be in better shape compared to his rivals as a result, Quartararo added: “For me, yes because we have no testing and it is a different track. We had two great races here and I think we can be pretty fast.

“I think it’s great that step-by-step we are taking information and we have been changing a lot since Valencia last year.

“The way we are doing our lap time is completely different. I think we changed a lot but I expect that in three months it will not change from zero to 100.

“But we are taking a lot of good information and step-by-step, even if the result is not improving, we are taking a lot of data.”

Going into further detail about what the major changes are at Yamaha, Quartararo alluded to corner entry being one of the areas where the M1 has changed.

“Basically it is how we are going into the corner,” began the 2021 world champion. “The power we have on the bike in different gears is completely different. Sometimes you ask a lot but the bike is not giving much. 

“Most of the time compared to last year we use less power but in different areas that last year made us want more and more. 

“I think we are learning how to use our bike and what our bike is accepting.”