Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today ><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s a quartet of riders \u2013 two of whom are yet to even start a MotoGP race, and one who has done just 20 of them \u2013 who are the calm in what\u2019s sure to be an otherwise stormy MotoGP rider market next year; Moreira, Zarco, Razgatlioglu and Aldeguer are the only four riders who have contracts that last into 2027. <\/p>\n MotoGP\u2019s annual game of musical chairs is a volatile one at the best of times, but the looming move for the sport to ditch the 1000cc engines that have propelled MotoGP since 2012 for new 850cc bikes shod with new-for-2027 Pirelli tyres<\/a> raises the stakes for every other rider.<\/p>\n Get your next contract right in a field of brand-new bikes, and your career could either get back on track, or reach new heights. Get it wrong, and it has the potential to be a slippery slope towards the rear of the grid, or \u2013 worse \u2013 out the door. <\/p>\n A rider who hasn\u2019t won a race for three and a half years holds all the cards. <\/p>\n And he knows it. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n EXPLAINER<\/a> Inside Miller\u2019s grim MotoGP reality \u2026 and why his life raft is still afloat, for now<\/p>\n MALAYSIA TALKING POINTS<\/a> Miller\u2019s lament, \u2018hole\u2019 sinks Bagnaia, winner\u2019s last laugh<\/p>\n Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion for Yamaha, has one Grand Prix podium finish in the past two seasons while simultaneously bolstering his status as arguably the grid\u2019s best rider not named Marc Marquez. <\/p>\n Quartararo\u2019s 2025 season \u2013 ninth in the championship \u2013 looks like a typo relative to the meagre results of a trio of peers on the same machine who all languish in the bottom five of the standings of the 22 full-timers in the sport. <\/p>\n Quartararo has been handsomely paid as MotoGP\u2019s biggest earner as Yamaha has wilted but, at 26 and after a chastening past three seasons, has all the leverage to hold Yamaha\u2019s feet to the fire. <\/p>\n Hand on heart, the Frenchman likely doesn\u2019t want to leave, but might have to if he\u2019s to reclaim past glories as Yamaha seem as far away \u2013 arguably further \u2013 than at any time since 2022, when Quartararo led the title chase at the halfway stage before being mowed down by Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati. <\/p>\n Ducati has barely stopped winning since, but there\u2019s no guarantee that trend will continue given the seismic changes set for 2027 and the banning of much of the aerodynamics and ride-height device wizardry that has underpinned the Italian brand\u2019s march from occasional race-winner to paddock powerhouse.<\/p>\n Honda, once behind Yamaha in what was derisively referred to as the \u2018Japanese Cup\u2019 as the European factories ascended, is on the march. <\/p>\n KTM has a young star in Pedro Acosta, but no wins since late 2022 and is under financial strain, again. <\/p>\n Aprilia has 2024 world champion Jorge Martin, who has spent two-thirds of this season injured while initially trying to escape a two-year deal to move elsewhere before the complexity and financial penalty for doing so saw him abruptly change his mind<\/a>. <\/p>\n Every other factory would move mountains for Quartararo if he springs loose, and \u2018El Diablo\u2019 has a big decision to make that will have ripple effects throughout the entire grid. <\/p>\n Based on the Frenchman\u2019s mounting frustration, that decision might come sooner than later.<\/p>\n Quartararo\u2019s talent is undeniable, but 2025 has been another year of largely anonymous results for Yamaha. (Photo by Paul CROCK \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n ONE-LAP BRILLIANCE MASKS YAMAHA\u2019S WOES<\/p>\n How good has Quartararo been this season? <\/p>\n Consider his points (182) and championship position (ninth) relative to the three other Yamaha full-timers on the grid in Jack Miller (68, 18th), Alex Rins (63, 19th) and Miguel Oliveira (36, 20th), all multiple-time Grand Prix winners who have been rendered as also-rans because of the deficiencies of Yamaha\u2019s YZR-M1 machine relative to the rest of the field. <\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola joins Pit Talk to review a successful yet tumultuous year in MotoGP, look at the growth of Marco Bezzecchi and his hopes for Jorge Martin, and discuss Liberty Media\u2019s arrival while reminiscing about his F1 days working for Australian Paul Stoddart. Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n Hard data aside, Quartararo has provided a series of moments where analysis, telemetry and stats can only explain so much. A rider on a Yamaha shouldn\u2019t have only Marc Marquez on a Ducati ahead of him in the pole position count this year, but somehow Quartararo has managed it. <\/p>\n In Spain in round five, Quartararo broke the Jerez all-time track record by taking pole by three-hundredths of a second over a stunned Marquez. A round later in France, Quartararo sent his home fans into delirium with another pole that again set a new benchmark for MotoGP bikes at Le Mans. <\/p>\n A third straight pole \u2013 and circuit record \u2013 came the next time out in Silverstone, a staggering lap that was three-tenths of a second faster than Ducati\u2019s Alex Marquez, the best of the rest. He qualified on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix in round 10, and broke the all-time Phillip Island circuit record in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix to set his fifth pole of the season; Marc Marquez, who had the title wrapped up with five rounds to go in Japan, has eight poles this year and is the only rider besides Quartararo with more than three. <\/p>\n The combination of volcanic pace, dancing on the edge of adhesion and a 2025 Yamaha can only do so much over a race distance, though; Quartararo finished second in Spain<\/a> to Alex Marquez, but has just one other top-10 finish (10th at Assen) from his other poles, either fading back to the pack, crashing out trying to keep up with the frontrunners or \u2013 at Silverstone \u2013 being denied a win from a comfortable lead<\/a> when his bike\u2019s ride-height device became stuck while leading on lap 12 of 19. <\/p>\n Fabio Quartararo\u2019s results from pole positions, 2025<\/p>\n Spain (Rd 5): Qualified 1st, Sprint DNF (crash, lap 1), Grand Prix 2nd (+1.561secs behind winner, A. Marquez)<\/p>\n France (Rd 6): Qualified 1st, Sprint 4th (+2.840, M. Marquez), Grand Prix DNF (crash, lap 4)<\/p>\n Great Britain (Rd 7): Qualified 1st, Sprint 7th (+7.231, A. Marquez), Grand Prix DNF (mechanical, lap 12)<\/p>\n Netherlands (Rd 10): Qualified 1st, Sprint DNF (crash, lap 10), Grand Prix 10th (+24.743, M. Marquez)<\/p>\n Australia (Rd 19): Qualified 1st, Sprint 7th (+8.706, Bezzecchi), Grand Prix 11th (+16.965, R. Fernandez)<\/p>\n Broadly, Quartararo\u2019s pole laps are perceived to be achieved despite what he\u2019s riding, his race fade-outs coming largely because of it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s why his impeding free agency is so compelling, and why he holds so much power over where he might end up if he bites the bullet and leaves the only brand he\u2019s ridden for since he entered MotoGP in 2019. <\/p>\n Of the best of the 18 other riders with contracts to the end of 2026, Martin has been hurt this year and can be volatile most seasons, while Alex Marquez \u2013 good as his runner-up 2025 campaign has been<\/a> \u2013 has had one truly impressive season in a six-year MotoGP career. <\/p>\n At Ducati\u2019s factory team, Francesco Bagnaia \u2013 after four seasons where he\u2019d either won the world championship or fought for it until the final round \u2013 has been a week by week, seemingly session by session mystery<\/a> in 2025. <\/p>\n Marc Marquez, 33 next February and with his redemptive career arc completed with a seventh MotoGP title<\/a> this season, shapes as someone in MotoGP for a good time, not an overly long one. <\/p>\n Quartararo knows his worth as Yamaha\u2019s most valuable asset, and hasn\u2019t been shy in flexing it. <\/p>\n With Yamaha persisting on using an inline-four engine for its MotoGP project \u2013 the only brand to do so after Suzuki withdrew from the sport at the end of 2022 \u2013 the success of the V4-powered Ducati in particular has seen Quartararo strongly express his preference for Yamaha to go down that same power plant path, Yamaha fast-tracking its embryonic V4 developmental engine to such an extent that it has already been raced twice by test rider Augusto Fernandez in Misano and Sepang, a timescale that looks hurried relative to the careful, publicly risk-averse approach historically employed by the Japanese MotoGP manufacturers. <\/p>\n With Rins nowhere near his Grand Prix-winning best since injury cut him down in 2023 \u2013 and with Yamaha bringing in Razgatlioglu for next season as a rookie \u2013 Quartararo\u2019s vote of confidence in Miller as a rider with developmental experience from his time riding for Honda, Ducati and KTM was a significant factor in the Australian staying on for 2026<\/a>, despite Miller \u2013 by many metrics \u2013 having his worst statistical season in a decade<\/a>. Quartararo \u2013 not renowned as a great test rider, more a racer who pushes what he\u2019s given to extremes \u2013 knows Miller\u2019s technical know-how is arguably more important than the results<\/a> he achieves in competition. <\/p>\n On the surface, it appears every Yamaha decision is about keeping Quartararo motivated, well-compensated and engaged; arguably it should be, has to be. <\/p>\n A pair of recent press offerings suggest his patience is wearing thin, though.<\/p>\n Quartararo\u2019s staggering pole lap in Australia was the latest in a long line of times in 2025 where he\u2019s transcended his machinery. (Photo by Martin KEEP \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n MARQUEZ MOVE COULD OFFER A TEMPLATE<\/p>\n Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island last month, a revealing Quartararo interview with es.motorsport.com made it crystal-clear as to what he\u2019s looking for from Yamaha as the 2027 regulation reset looms, particularly given the Frenchman gave consideration to leaving Yamaha three years ago and \u2013 on that occasion \u2013 elected to bet on what he knew. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n SEPANG RACE REPORT<\/a> Marquez celebrates milestone in style with Sepang victory<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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