Losing patience

MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo looking for a job

Fabio Quartararo is losing patience.(Bild: APA/AFP/Mohd RASFAN)

Since Fabio Quartararo's world championship title with Yamaha in 2021, things have gone downhill for the Frenchman with the Japanese racing team. This year too, the M1 is nowhere near Ducati's performance, "El Diablo" is running out of patience ...

When the MotoGP engines roar tomorrow (1st practice, 11.45am) at the Autodromo do Algarve, there will be one pit box under the Portuguese sun that is not at all happy: at Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo, 2021 World Champion at just 22 years of age, is gradually losing patience. Towards the end of last season, in which Yamaha went without a GP win for the first time since 2003, he put the rod in the Japanese team's window. It seems that too little technical progress was made on the bike over the winter.

"Further back than ever before"
Quartararo's devastating verdict after eleventh place at the season opener in Qatar: "Compared to the others, our bike is further back than ever before. The gap between all the European factories and us has widened." Team boss Massimo Meregalli could only reassure his jewel: "We are not magicians, it takes time." But Quartararo doesn't have exactly that: his contract ends at the end of the season and the transfer carousel is spinning at breakneck speed.

Most recently, the Frenchman knocked on Aprilia's door, where he is said to have found a sympathetic ear from team boss Massimo Rivola. With Aleix Espargaró (34) and Maverick Viñales (29), Aprilia has the oldest rider duo of all the factory teams. Their contracts expire at the end of the season.