Quartararo demand to Yamaha: “Make what I want or I’ll have to consider moving”
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The 2021 MotoGP champion revealed how he criticised the team’s progress in a major feedback meeting after he was left disappointed at the Misano test.Quartararo’s Yamaha contract runs until the end of 2024 meaning the team have one year to appease their star man, or he’ll walk away.“We have not a lot of time to make a revolution,” he said.“The future, right now, is not in my hands. It’s in Yamaha’s hands.“Of course, I prefer to stay at Yamaha. But if they don’t make what I want – a competitive bike – I’ll have to consider myself moving for 2025.”Quartararo’s – and Yamaha’s – plight began midway through his title defence last year, allowing Francesco Bagnaia to claw back a 91-point deficit.But their performance this year has been stark, not only behind Ducati but slipping behind KTM and Aprilia too.Quartararo did finish third but India but explained: “Mentally, it has been tough. I“t’s difficult when you’re fighting three years in a row for the championship – wins, podiums, every race – then you fight for one podium, and it looks like you’ve made it.“Sometimes a rider can cover, a little bit, the problems.“But the problems are bigger and I can’t do anything. “Basically, it’s three years we’ve had a really similar bike. It’s not a massive change and we can’t make improvements.Related 2024 MotoGP rider line-up: The contract situation so far Brad Binder fastest in second practice after destroying Motegi lap record“For the next year and the future, it’s all in Yamaha’s hands to make a better bike, and see how it goes.”
The Misano test was Quartararo’s first opportunity to see Yamaha’s initial plans for next season and he was left unimpressed.“It was not a positive test for us,” he said.“I was on the bike, I can say how I feel. We had a one-hour meeting, more or less 20 people in the meeting.“I told, straight away, to these 20 people that I was not happy. That we have to improve.“I requested a lot. I’d be happy if they do half of what I ask.“Half next year, half in 2025. I’d be happy.”Quartararo has implored Yamaha to be riskier in their development of next year’s machine.“If you want to be professional and be competitive for 2024 you have to take a lot of risk,” he said.“The others will make a step forwards again. If we don’t do it, we’ll be even worse than this year.“To be walking on the edge of everything – the edge of the rules, of the potential of the bike. Don’t be that safe.“It can be a winning project if we have a winning mentality.”
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