QUARTARARO TOLD TO KEEP DELIVERING AFTER MISANO QUALIFYING SPARKS 2027 HONDA TITLE PUSH

Neil Hodgson believes Fabio Quartararo has to keep proving himself on Yamaha if he wants to arrive at Honda in 2027 “white-hot” and immediately fight for the world title.

Quartararo’s message from Misano comes after a difficult stretch for the Frenchman and for Yamaha. Hodgson pointed to what Quartararo showed in qualifying for the 2026 San Marino Grand Prix as evidence of the level he can still deliver, even as the YZR-M1 struggles. The 2021 champion has not been in title contention since 2022, when Francesco Bagnaia completed a historic comeback to win the first of his back-to-back championships. Since then, Quartararo has also gone without a Grand Prix win, with his last victory coming at the 2022 German Grand Prix.

The wider context is that Ducati’s rise during the 2022 season coincided with the aerodynamic revolution that reshaped MotoGP, and Yamaha’s response did not match the pace of the Italian factory. Quartararo initially kept faith in the Japanese manufacturer, but that confidence “finished in 2025,” according to the report. With the 2027 and 2028 seasons already mapped out, Quartararo signed with Honda, a move that has been described as happening before he even tried Yamaha’s 2026 bike. The same source suggests he did not test the Iwata outfit’s V4 engine in the final year of the 1,000cc era before switching to the 850cc regulations.

That frustration has spilled into the public arena as well. The report notes that Quartararo has clashed with Yamaha and, at MotorLand Aragon, indicated he would no longer help develop the bike. Against that backdrop, Hodgson’s stance is blunt: Quartararo cannot simply stop pushing while he waits for his Honda debut.

Speaking on TNT Sports 2, Hodgson said: “Look at this for a lap on the Yamaha. This is what I wanted to see! This is your job; this is what you should do! You have to.” He added that Quartararo can’t “quit,” even if the machine is unlikely to improve: “You can’t quit. Yes, the bike’s not going to improve, but you are an incredible rider, so you have to keep showing everybody that. If he wants to win the world championship next year for Honda, he has to go into that season white-hot, because he’s extracted the most of it.”

Hodgson’s argument is rooted in the specific performance Quartararo produced in qualifying at Misano. During Q1, Quartararo threatened to pull the underpowered Yamaha out of the session, only missing a place in Q2 by 0.222s. He finished Q1 third, recording a 1:30.799 lap—an effort that made him the clear “best of the rest” among Yamaha riders at the track.

The report highlights how close the Q1 qualifiers were: Raul Fernandez advanced from Q1 on the Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP with a 1:30.535, while Fermin Aldeguer progressed on the Gresini Ducati GP25 with a 1:30.577. Quartararo’s lap left him just outside the next step, but it still stood out as the strongest Yamaha showing in qualifying.

Other Yamaha results underlined the gap. Pramac’s Jack Miller was the next-best Yamaha in Q1, eighth overall with a 1:31.413. Quartararo’s factory teammate Alex Rins, who announced that he will retire from motorcycle racing at the end of 2026 ahead of the San Marino GP, managed only 10th in Q1 with a 1:31.593. Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu qualified last at Misano, turning a 1:32.264.

For Hodgson, the takeaway is that Quartararo’s Misano qualifying performance proves he still has the ability to deliver when it matters—so the responsibility now is to keep doing it, even if the Yamaha project is heading toward the 850cc era with limited hope. In his view, that consistency is the only way Quartararo can enter his Honda title fight with momentum rather than waiting for a fresh start.