Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola says Fabio Quartararo has prioritised his bank balance over his championship chances by snubbing Aprilia for a big-money deal to stick with Yamaha.
Quartararo stunned the MotoGP paddock by announcing a fresh two-year deal to stay with the troubled Yamaha team until the end of 2026.
The 2021 MotoGP champion has been heavily critical of the Iwata factory’s declining performance since losing the 2022 title to Francesco Bagnaia.
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Ducati has firmly established the Desmosedici as the leading bike in the premier class ever since, with the M1 sinking down the order.
Quartararo had a career-worst season in MotoGP last year, returning just three podiums to finish 10th in the riders standings.
With the French star regularly hinting that he could walk away from the team at the end of his current contract, Aprilia pounced, entering into negotiations that resulted in what Autosport has reported was a €4 million ($6.55 million) deal.
Yamaha, however, upped the ante considerably, successfully counter-offering Quartararo €12 million (A$19.65 million) for his signature.
Speaking to Autosport, Rivola said he was unwilling to compromise his team’s development budget by entering a big-spending arms race for riders, accusing Quartararo of taking cash over trophies.
“The limit that we have at an economic level in terms of rider salaries is very much related to the performance of the bike,” he said. “If a rider wants to win, I don’t know if money should be the determining factor in that decision.
“Before that, I think it’s more important that he asks himself what he wants to do. ‘Do I want to make money or do I want a project that allows me to win?’ And I think the Aprilia project allows you to fight to win.
“And I will say more: if he wins, money will not be a problem. But the commitment has to be mutual.”
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IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY
There’s no doubt that Yamaha needs Quartararo more than he needs the team.
Losing a proven championship winner at a delicate moment of the team’s recovery would be a savage blow to morale, and it’s unlikely Yamaha would be able to net a rider of a similar calibre for 2025.
It’s therefore no wonder it came up with a big-bucks deal to retain him — and, per reports, make him the highest paid MotoGP rider on the grid.
But it’s unfair to say his decision was motivated only by money.
Quartararo wasn’t flush with guaranteed winning options, even if every alternative would’ve been a step up from his current level of competitiveness.
Aprilia was the frontrunner for his services, but while Noale has won races in the last two seasons — and Maverick Viñales claimed sprint victory in Portugal last time out — the team has struggled to take the final step to join Ducati as even a podium regular.
It has potential, but it’s no guarantee.
Neither KTM nor Ducati were connected with any real seriousness to a Quartararo move, and it’s easy to see why.
KTM has Brad Miller on a long-term deal and generational talent Pedro Acosta earmarked for the second bike from next season.
Ducati has tied down Francesco Bagnaia and already has three options — incumbent Enea Bastianini, Jorge Martin and Marc Márquez — for his teammate for 2025.
Submitting to a satellite team could theoretically have got Quartararo onto a competitive Ducati, but it would have come at the expense of his factory standing without guaranteeing a path back to the top.
Unlike Márquez, who made the decision to ditch the factory Honda team for the satellite Gresini squad this year, Quartararo doesn’t have six titles and a decade of MotoGP earnings and status to fall back on if such a plan were to fail.
If he can’t win titles in the medium term elsewhere, he may as well stick with Yamaha and focus on building it back to competitive health — and meanwhile cash in.
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THERE ARE REASONS FOR HOPE WITH YAMAHA
There’s reason to believe in Yamaha too, even if at times Quartararo’s own comments have painted a bleak picture of its potential.
There was a hint of it in his brief statement confirming his new deal.
“Last winter Yamaha proved to me that they have a new approach and a new aggressive mindset,” he said. “My confidence is high we will be back at the front together.
“We still have a long way ahead of us to start fighting for victory again.
“I will work hard, and I am sure that together we will achieve our dream once more.”
Managing director Lin Jarvis painted a clearer picture of the changes the team has made to sell itself as a viable option for its world champion.
“We are the first to admit that there is much work to do to get back to the competitive level we were at in 2021 and the first half of 2022,” he said.
“We have already made significant changes to our organisation, including a new internal management system, recruitment of top expertise within the industry, new external technical partnerships, increased development budget, and an intensified testing program.
“All these changes are designed to speed up the process for us to return to winning ways.
“Fabio has understood this commitment, and this has given him the confidence to make his decision to stay with us for the coming years.”
Underlying the seriousness of the commitment has been Yamaha’s willingness to hire external expertise, breaking with tradition among the Japanese marques of trying to foster engineering excellence from within.
Much has been made of the team poaching of Max Bartolini from Ducati in January as European project leader.
However, this was just the latest of a long line of moves attempting to diversify the team’s knowledge base.
The process started in 2022 when Yamaha contracted Marmotors, the engine company founded by former F1 engineer Luca Marmorini, to develop its 2024 motor.
That was followed by the team turning to renowned Italian design company Dallara to help it with aerodynamics last year.
It’s since focused on picking off key staff from rival teams, including Marco Nicotra from Ducati last October as head of aero, followed by Bartolini this year.
Quartararo has been full of praise for Bartolini in particular for the way he’s been willing to make significant changes rather than working incrementally.
“He still needs time to understand the bike, but already I really love the way he is working,” he said, per The Race, during testing. “That’s why I’m really motivated, because I feel like we are working in a good way.”
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TOO BIG TO FAIL
There’s also the matter of MotoGP’s tweaked concession system, which has been redesigned to give the struggling Japanese teams a boost after increasingly dire performances in recent years.
Because both Yamaha and Honda scored less than 35 per cent of the points available during the 2023 season, both will have access to significant testing and development allowances.
Both will get 260 test tyres for the year, 90 more than Ducati gets as the baseline team. They can also test with any rider they like at any number of grand prix circuits they like, up from the maximum of three allowed for any other manufacturer.
Both teams will be able to field six wildcard riders for the season, up from zero available to Ducati.
While all other marques will have their engine specifications frozen, development is entirely open for Yamaha and Honda this year.
Both teams will also be allowed to homologate an additional aero package, though a previous specification must be discarded when they do.
It’s not enough to totally change the game, but it should turbocharge progress. Honda has already said it expects to be much more competitive in the second half of the season.
The road back to championship contention with Iwata will be long. It’s unlikely to be completed before the end of Quartararo’s fresh contract.
But at Yamaha the 2021 champion is wanted, can flex his muscle and has been able to instigate the sort of sweeping changes that are likely to take the team back to competitiveness.
In the long term its arguably no worse a bet than with any other factory team behind Ducati and certainly no worse than any satellite switch.
For El Diablo, it’s better the devil you know.