King of MotoGP™: Quartararo – a World Champion’s profile

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo is the 2021 MotoGP™ World Champion! After a dramatic decider at the Gran Premio Nolan del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia Romagna, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider sliced from 15th on the grid to fourth as sole rival for the crown Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) crashed out from the lead. Quartararo is the first French premier class World Champion in history and is the first Yamaha rider to lift the crown since 2015.

Quartararo was four years old when his father Étienne – a former French 125cc Champion – gave him a Yamaha PW50. It’s a familiar story for future MotoGP™ riders, and although Quartararo’s rise would ultimately prove stratospheric, there were definitely a few challenges and difficult seasons along the way.

After getting that first bike, he began riding at different mini circuits around his home Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region to master the basics before then going racing in Italy and Spain. And the success began early: the 50cc, 70cc and 80cc titles in the Catalan Championship and the pre-Moto3™ title in the Mediterranean Championship showed promise, but once the young Frenchman arrived in the FIM CEV Repsol, or the Spanish Moto3™ Championship as it was then, that promise exploded into something a lot bigger.

Winning the Championship that has now become the FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship is one of the biggest achievements for a young rider. So becoming the youngest to do it in 2013 and then defending the crown the year after even more so. That allowed Quartararo the opportunity to move into Moto3™ earlier than previously allowed and when he did, remaining in Estrella Galicia 0,0 colours, the momentum for the young Frenchman rolled on.

Quartararo debuted in Moto3™ with 7th in Qatar in 2015, and it took him only one more race to get on the podium as he took second in Texas. Two more top sixes followed, he was on pole at Jerez, and he was back on the podium at the TT Circuit Assen too. The whispers of “the new Marquez” grew into assured articles, ramping up the pressure on a rider who was already, despite the moniker from some corners, very much instead the first Quartararo.

Later that season however, the first key challenge of his Grand Prix career saw El Diablo break his ankle at Misano. That meant he missed most of the final races of the year, only returning at Valencia but not scoring there. So he ended the year in 10th, making a solid impression but not displaying the domination expected after his searing path to the World Championship.

At that point, under pressure to perform, a bigger change of direction was needed. Enter Éric Mahé, who came on board as Quartararo’s new manager, and a crucial decision that started to build the foundations of the future premier class crown: for 2017, Quartararo would move to Moto2™, taking on a new challenge on a bigger bike to press the reset button.

At that point, under pressure to perform, a bigger change of direction was needed. Enter Éric Mahé, who came on board as Quartararo’s new manager, and a crucial decision that started to build the foundations of the future premier class crown: for 2017, Quartararo would move to Moto2™, taking on a new challenge on a bigger bike to press the reset button.

And it started well, with a seventh place finish on his intermediate class debut in Qatar – the same result that, in Moto3™, had prefaced a first podium soon after. But this time around there was no rostrum around the corner and 2017 swiftly became his toughest season yet, culminating in the Pons team replacing Quartararo for 2018.

Enter another key figure in the rise of El Diablo: Luca Boscoscuro. El Diablo moved to the Speed Up team with Boscoscuro at the helm for 2018, and on Moto2™ take two it actually started worse: a 20th in Qatar and 22nd in Argentina. But then it started to come together: a 15th at COTA, a 10th at Jerez, an 8th at Le Mans… 11th at Mugello interrupted the pattern, but it was another solid result as Quartararo started to get back in the groove.

At Catalunya, it all came together. Saturday saw the Frenchman take his first Moto2™ pole and on Sunday, he unleashed the first truly dominant performance of his Grand Prix career, fastest lap included. No one had an answer for the number 20, and he took his first Grand Prix win by nearly two and a half seconds. Next time out at Assen, another podium. The return to the podium and his first victory seemed a long time coming, but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

By the time Quartararo took that win, there seemed a split between those who’d been waiting for the success they saw as inevitable and those who’d written the Frenchman off. The new Petronas Yamaha SRT outfit, and Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis, were definitely not the latter and at Silverstone it became official: Quartararo would join MotoGP™ in 2019. He finished the 2018 Moto2™ season with a solid run of form and left the intermediate class to saddle up in MotoGP™… and the rest is history in the best possible way.

On the pace from the off, Quartararo’s stunning debut season silenced the doubters. Fast and consistently so, and somehow making it look easy, it wasn’t long until the number 20 was an established, expected presence at the front. Jerez saw him become the youngest polesitter in the premier class, and he took five more that season. He also came up against then seven-time World Champion Marc Marquez in some incredible last lap duels – not quite defeating the number 93, but making life impressively difficult. Seven podiums saw Quartararo end the year fifth overall, take Rookie of the Year and the overall top Independent Team rider title. Fabio Quartararo had arrived.

On the pace from the off, Quartararo’s stunning debut season silenced the doubters. Fast and consistently so, and somehow making it look easy, it wasn’t long until the number 20 was an established, expected presence at the front. Jerez saw him become the youngest polesitter in the premier class, and he took five more that season. He also came up against then seven-time World Champion Marc Marquez in some incredible last lap duels – not quite defeating the number 93, but making life impressively difficult. Seven podiums saw Quartararo end the year fifth overall, take Rookie of the Year and the overall top Independent Team rider title. Fabio Quartararo had arrived.

In 2020, it started with a dream double win at Jerez and the Yamaha rider seemed the man to beat. But after some twists and turns, it wasn’t until Barcelona that El Diablo got back on top. Some more struggles later, the crown was instead nabbed by Joan Mir and Quartararo went into winter pushing to reset and reload, vowing to iron out the kinks and fight for the crown again.

That he did, and he did it in Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP colours as he took on a new chapter with the factory Yamaha outfit. Off the podium in Qatar, he hit back in Doha to take his first victory of the season. At Portimão he was in a league of his own for another win, but then a speed bump appeared at Jerez as the Frenchman suffered with serious arm pump, taking only a handful of points. Surgery ahead of his home Grand Prix wasn’t the best run up to the event, but still El Diablo took a podium, and then another win at Mugello.