Fabio Quartararo says he “was ready to leave” Yamaha at the end of the 2024 MotoGP season due🔴 to the Japanese brand’s dip in form.

The French rider mad🤪e🍬 his MotoGP debut with Yamaha in 2019 at Petronas SRT before moving to its factory team in 2021, when he won the title.

Quartararo then went from battling for a second championship in 2022 to not even winning a race in 2023, while Yamaha is yet to score a podium this season - with a third in the Jerez sprint stripped from t♕he Frenchm♍an over a tyre pressure penalty.

The 202🐈1 world champion was a key figure in the 2025 rider market, with the Frenchman seriously considering an offer from Aprili꧒a before accepting a big money two-year deal to remain at Yamaha.

In a YouTube interview with ‘Legend’, Quartararo revealed🐭: “Yamaha is a legendꦚary team.

“My dr✃eam, when I was litt🤡le, was to go there because Valentino Rossi was there.

“I was ready to leave this brand; even though it was my dream 𒀰team, I 𓄧felt ready to leave.

“And Yamaha made some very big changes. Th🍨ey have made a big investment in the project, hiring a lot of new engineers .

“Ev✨en for the brand, for Yamaha, it is not good to be so far behind ༒in its market.

“Unfortunately, you can't get back to the top in [a few] weꦛeks or months; I think it's more like years.

“That's what made me take the decision to stay at Yamaha, seeing meetings 🌞with people who came from othe💟r brands, who were working on very big projects .

“That's𒉰 what made me take the step of renewing with Yamaha for the next two years.”

The arrival of Max Bartolini from Ducati as technical director at Yamaha was a major factor in Quartararo remain🔯ing with the Japanese marque.

Over the course of the💙 2024 campaign, Yamaha has utilised its concession benefits to conduct numerous in-season tests and introduce a raft of new items - stepping away from the more cautious approach it has had previously.

That is now extending asꩵ far as Yamaha ditching its inline-four♔ engine philosophy for a V4 for 2025.

While there has been🧔 slow progress for Yamaha in 2♐024, Quartararo admits the Japanese marque’s decline in form since 2022 did take a toll on him.

“I've had problems with the bike and also 🧸mental problems, I think,” he added.

“In the end, when you spend four years fighting for the titl♛e and one year you finish tenth, it's str☂ange.

“It even makes 🌼you doubt yourself, thinking, 'is it meꦛ, what's happening?’

“In the last two years, we haven't ꧃improved at all, and the others have made a big step🌺 forward.

“At the moment, we're still behind, but I think I've learned a lot about staying calm and above all [trying] to m🀅ake the bike evolv🦩e in the best way possible.

“But it's true that mentally it wasn't easy.”