Yamaha Keeps Six Riders in Pits Amid Safety Probe

At the Sepang pre‑season test in early February, Yamaha’s new V4 YZR‑M1 programme was disrupted by two incidents. Fabio Quartararo crashed late on the opening day at Turn 5, fracturing the middle finger of his right hand. Later the same day his bike suffered an unexplained engine/electronics stoppage and was left dead on track; engineers were unable to determine a definitive cause that evening.

With safety paramount, Yamaha closed its factory and Pramac garages and kept all six Yamaha machines — including those of Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, Augusto Fernández and Andrea Dovizioso — in the pits while technical teams from Japan and Italy carried out on‑site inspections and further factory diagnostics.

Technical director Max Bartolini and team management described the halt as a precaution while they sought confirmation from the factory. Paddock reporting said similar issues had been seen in earlier shakedowns, and some sources suggested overheating as a possible factor; others described the fault as an electronics stoppage, so accounts varied on the precise nature of the failure.

Overnight collaboration between Yamaha’s Italian and Japanese engineers produced a temporary fix that allowed the V4 machines to return to track on the final day of the Sepang test. The bikes were reported to be running with reduced power/RPM as a precaution. On the re‑entry morning Rins, Miller and Razgatlıoğlu completed a combined 74 laps, with Rins the quickest of the trio and 12th overall, 1.178 seconds off the morning pace set by Álex Márquez. Yamaha confirmed Quartararo would not ride again at Sepang and would return to Europe for medical checks; he is expected to target the next test in Buriram on February 21–22.

The interruption cost Yamaha valuable setup and development time on a completely redesigned V4 project introduced in 2025 and intended to run through the 2026 regulations year. Engineers stressed the importance of factory‑validated fixes before resuming full programme activity. Team bosses including Paolo Pavesio and Massimo Meregalli said rider safety guided the decision to pause running, while the overnight fix underlined rapid mobilization between Yamaha’s bases to keep the V4 programme on schedule. Although running resumed with mitigations, Yamaha’s Sepang test plan remained affected until diagnostics were completed and a clear, safe path forward was confirmed.