Fabio Quartararo has signed a two-year contract with Honda that will begin under the new 850cc regulations in 2027, and he will leave Yamaha at the end of the 2026 MotoGP season. The 26-year-old 2021 world champion made his MotoGP debut with Yamaha in 2019 and departs after recording 11 victories, 32 podiums and 21 pole positions for the manufacturer. Despite a contract extension from Yamaha in April 2024 that met his financial demands, Quartararo has not won since the 2022 German Grand Prix and managed only four podiums since 2023; he cited Yamaha’s lack of progress on its inline-four development as the decisive factor in his decision to move on and opted to leave before riding Yamaha’s new V4 for 2026.

Honda’s announcement locks in the factory team to field Quartararo under the incoming 2027 regulations, though the exact seat within Honda has not been confirmed; Joan Mir and Luca Marini were named in reports as possible vacancies because both are out of contract. The timing of the move was explicitly tied to the sport’s technical reset for 2027, making the regulatory change a major factor in the transfer. Motorsport reporting that preceded the announcement had framed a Quartararo-to-Honda switch as likely to reshape the rider market, with reporter Uri Puigdemont and others noting how an early high-profile move can accelerate negotiations across the paddock.

The deal makes the 2026 season a transitional or “shakedown” year for Quartararo and other riders as teams prepare for the new rules, and it represents a significant personnel loss for Yamaha. Only a handful of riders—Toprak Razgatlioglu, Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco—have publicly confirmed contracts for 2027 so far, underscoring how a confirmed signing of Quartararo could trigger downstream moves. Honda presented the contract as definitive for 2027–2028, framing the next chapters of the championship as a period of notable technical and market change across MotoGP.

Sources