Quartararo Breaks Finger, Ending Yamaha Sepang Test

Fabio Quartararo crashed at Turn 5 on the opening day of the Sepang MotoGP test, falling on his third lap and being taken to the circuit medical centre. Initial checks ruled out fractures but found abrasions to his left arm; a later assessment revealed a broken finger on his right hand and a sore arm. He returned in the afternoon, added laps and posted the ninth-fastest time on Yamaha’s much-changed V4 M1, but Yamaha and Quartararo ended his Sepang programme after a total of 24 laps (eight in the morning, 16 in the afternoon) so the finger could heal.

The early exit cost Yamaha valuable test time at a session dedicated to assessing the new V4 package. Other V4-related problems emerged during the test — Andrea Dovizioso stopped with a problem — and team principal Massimo Meregalli even suggested the team might consider benching a rider if necessary. Quartararo himself said the new V4 remained “very, very far” from where it needed to be for one-lap pace and race performance. Yamaha therefore lost on-track data and setup time that had been earmarked for refining handling, electronics and race pace ahead of the season.

Yamaha and Quartararo prioritised recovery with the Thailand GP opener and a Buriram test (Feb 21–22) in mind; the rider confirmed he planned to skip the rest of Sepang to be fit for those next outings. The withdrawal underlined the preseason trade-off between protecting rider health and securing development mileage on radically updated machinery.

Separately, reports linking Quartararo to a Honda deal for 2027–28 were noted during the test, raising the prospect that 2026 might be his final season with Yamaha and adding longer-term context to both the rider’s decisions and Yamaha’s urgent need to validate its V4 package.