Last week Yamaha announced it had re-signed Quartararo to a new two-year contract, reportedly worth around €12 million per season, taking him through to the end of 2026.
It comes as Yamaha has continued to struggle for form in the first round of 2024 and Quartararo admitted discussions with rival teams.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Americas Grand Prix, the 2021 world champion says a meeting held at the last round in Portugal helped him decide to remain with Yamaha after what he was told about the next steps of the M1 project.
“Of course we talked to different manufacturers,” he started. “The decision was not easy. But in Portugal we had a great meeting with top management of Yamaha, engineers, about the project from now until the end of the year and 2025 and 2026.
“There are some really interesting things, which are still confidential in Yamaha, new people, and the project is going to be huge. So, the decision was made in Portugal.”
Yamaha has already made key changes to its working methods over the winter, chief amongst them was the signing of long-time Ducati engineer Max Bartolini as technical director.
Source: Autosport