Fabio Quartararo tested a surprise new Yamaha fairing at Silverstone, boosting confidence and one-lap pace for the British MotoGP weekend.
Fabio Quartararo wasn’t expecting any big changes when he rolled out of pitlane on Friday morning at Silverstone — but Yamaha had other plans.
A new aerodynamic fairing, last seen during a private test at Misano, was quietly bolted onto his M1.
“The team told me that they have a surprise [aero update] for me, but that it’s still not the full one,” Quartararo said after practice.
“It’s a prototype, it’s not a carbon one. It’s a bit heavier, but I felt it was an advantage and I wanted to use it.”
Though teammate Alex Rins didn’t take to the new piece, Quartararo embraced the minor but meaningful upgrade, noting that it’s a “little bit better [at] turning.”
“It’s not a big difference, but my feeling was like that, and the data matched, so we decided to homologate this fairing.”
The prototype was just one part of a broader development effort Yamaha has been quietly building on since the start of the season.
Quartararo believes the key difference in 2025 is how rideable the M1 has become — a far cry from the “truck-like” feeling it gave him a year ago.
“Last year the bike felt like a truck, it was very heavy and didn’t turn. Now the M1 turns very well, a bit like in the past,” he said.
“In the [private] test at Misano we tried two things that for me are going quite well.”
“One is the aerodynamics, which we use here and which is still a prototype that is not perfect, but it went better.”
“And also, we have a new singarm. I tried it in the morning but that didn’t work at all and I went back to our normal one for Practice.”
Silverstone’s Friday wasn’t only about new parts — it was about results. Quartararo ended second fastest overall, just 0.047s behind Alex Marquez.
A dramatic late-session push from Alex Marquez delivered a new lap record as Yamaha stars and factory Ducati riders fought for Q2 spots in a cold and crash-heavy MotoGP Practice session.
More telling, though, was the presence of three Yamahas in the top 10, all advancing directly to Q2: Quartararo, Rins, and Jack Miller.
“Especially on one lap it’s good,” Quartararo said. “Now it looks like we start to be back on the one-lap pace, and we are working a lot to do the race pace a bit better.”
“Now you feel the fact of having four riders with the same bike, it’s a very positive thing.”
“It’s not something you feel right away, but after all the tests and four-five races we see that we are going fast,” Quartararo explained.
It’s an unusual mindset for a rider, but the Frenchman is actually pleased to have the competition closer within the Yamaha camp.
“Usually you never want your teammates to be close, normally you want the biggest gap possible,” he said.
“But to see them every time closer and closer and closer to the top is something I really like.”
The overall picture is of a Yamaha project trending upwards. Quartararo credits that partly to a consistent base setup refined from the opening round in Qatar.
“We changed the bike a lot since Qatar, but only a few details. The consistency [in the setup] is helping a lot for one-lap pace.”
“That has always been one of my strongest points to be on the limit for one lap.”
”We’ve also changed some things on the electronics, my riding style is much smoother. I think it’s going quite well.”
