Will Fabio Quartararo quit Yamaha? Decision “soon, we will see…”

Fabio Quartararo has offered a clue about when his 2025 MotoGP future will be finalised.

The Yamaha rider is into the final year of his contract and, with his bike seemingly no closer to restoring him to the front, he could opt to leave.

Quartararo will not be short of admirers, with Aprilia credited with a particular interest in acquiring his services.

Asked about when he will decide, Quartararo said: “It will be soon. The exact date? I don’t know.

“But I will not spend months to make a decision.

“It will be quite quick. We will see…”

Since winning the 2021 MotoGP championship, Quartararo’s Yamaha has fallen further and further back.

At the season-opening Qatar MotoGP, any preseason optimism was squashed by a drab 11th-place finish.

His teammate Alex Rins came home in 16th.

Yamaha hope to take advantage of the concessions rule by arranging a private test, 24 hours after this weekend’s Portuguese MotoGP at Portimao.

“We will test Monday, here, after the race,” Quartararo confirmed.

“It will be interesting to see how it’s going.

“Step by step we will bring some new items. We have have new data to analyse.

“We will talk about the test on Sunday night to check what we will use, what we will test.

“As always, it will be super challenging.”

Yamaha recruited Massimo Bartolini and Marco Nicotra - two engineers from Ducati - as a major indicator that they plan to turn their fortunes around.

But they also arrived at Portimao for this weekend’s second round of the 2024 season playing down any hope.

Massimo Meregalli, the Yamaha team director, warned: “The changes we are trying to make are no quick turnarounds – the significant progress that we're looking for will require time and hard work.”

Whether Yamaha have enough time to convince Quartararo to sign a new contract remains to be seen.