A Frank Admission from Fabio: “Marquez is the Best Rider of the Decade”

As Marc Marquez continues to assert complete control over the 2025 MotoGP season, even his closest rivals are beginning to sound more like spectators than challengers. After winning both the German Grand Prix and a treacherous, rain-soaked Sachsenring Sprint, the Ducati superstar now holds an 83-point lead over his brother Alex Marquez in the overall standings. At the halfway mark of the season, Marquez’s march toward his eighth world title feels like a formality.

Among those who’ve had to recalibrate their expectations is Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion and Yamaha’s flagship rider. Speaking to Spanish outlet AS, Quartararo offered a candid — and at times painful — appraisal of Marquez’s brilliance and the bleak reality facing Yamaha.

“I don’t think there’s anyone at Marquez’s level right now. Not just now, but for the past ten years,” Quartararo said. “He’s good at everything: wet, dry, with an injured arm… It’s like FIFA, where all players have a rating of 99.”

The Devil Sees No Weakness in the King

Quartararo’s praise wasn’t mere sportsmanship — it was near reverence. His words reflect the consensus in the paddock: Marquez is not just winning, he’s transcending. The Spaniard has taken seven pole positions this season and remains undefeated in Sunday races under dry and wet conditions alike.

Even in the face of such dominance, Quartararo searches for vulnerabilities. He believes if there’s any area where Marquez might be challenged, it’s in pure speed during dry conditions — a realm where Quartararo still believes in his own strengths.

“In unusual conditions, [Marquez] is almost unbeatable. But in dry conditions, it could pose some problems. In pure speed, I have the potential to be very fast,” he explained.

But as he quickly admits, belief in his own speed means little when the Yamaha M1 can’t match up to the Ducati’s power and consistency.

Frustration Boils Over: “Our Bike Is Very Fragile”

If Marquez is a machine built for victory, Quartararo’s Yamaha is a puzzle that keeps changing pieces mid-race weekend. Consistency — both in grip, feel, and performance — has been the elusive target all season long.

“It hurts a lot more than falling,” Quartararo admitted. “It’s been a strange and difficult year. I know my speed on a lap, but our bike is very fragile. From one day to the next, depending on the heat or cold, it changes completely.”

The Frenchman, affectionately known as “El Diablo,” hasn’t won a race since 2022. Once the crown jewel of Yamaha’s MotoGP program, Quartararo now finds himself fighting for scraps in a machine that seems allergic to stability.

Yamaha’s struggles have been magnified this season, not just by Ducati’s dominance, but also by Aprilia’s resurgence and KTM’s increasing competitiveness. Quartararo’s once-vibrant Yamaha team now languishes deep in the constructors’ standings — and with it, so does his title hope.

A Title Race That Isn’t One

While Quartararo remains one of the fastest riders over a single lap — claiming four pole positions this year — the larger battle is already lost. In stark contrast, Marquez, with seven poles and multiple race wins, is on a completely different level.

“We’re all watching from behind,” Quartararo said, encapsulating the despair felt by many on the grid.

Even Francesco Bagnaia, Marquez’s Ducati teammate and a two-time world champion himself, is a staggering 147 points behind. For Jorge Martin, Aprilia’s top man, the season has been a disaster, and he now faces pressure to re-establish himself as a contender — or risk fading into irrelevance.

The Threat to Yamaha: Quartararo Could Walk

Quartararo’s patience appears to be running out. His contract with Yamaha expires after the 2026 season, but he has already made it clear: if Yamaha doesn’t deliver a radically improved bike, he may not stick around.

“I try to save my honor at each Grand Prix… while helplessly observing the overwhelming superiority of Marc Marquez,” he confessed.

For Yamaha, this should sound the alarm bells. Quartararo remains their only realistic shot at podiums — let alone race wins — and his exit would throw the factory into a deep identity crisis.

He’s no longer just Yamaha’s hope; he’s their only competitive link to the front. And if he walks, others — like KTM or Aprilia — could be ready to scoop him up.

What Can Yamaha Do Now?

It’s not just about horsepower. Quartararo has spoken repeatedly this year about Yamaha’s issues with sensitivity to temperature, front-end instability, and lack of acceleration out of corners. Even their ongoing test program — which includes work on a V4 engine prototype — feels too far down the line to help in 2025.

Unless Yamaha delivers significant mid-season upgrades or a shift in race weekend consistency, Quartararo will spend the rest of the year fending off midfield threats instead of challenging Marquez.

Quartararo’s Reality: Honor Over Victory

For a rider once crowned world champion, who knows the taste of dominance, Quartararo’s current struggle isn’t just physical — it’s emotional. Watching someone like Marquez rise again while you’re stuck spinning in circles is a special kind of torture.

There’s no doubt about Quartararo’s talent. His ability to stay competitive in qualifying — despite mechanical disadvantages — is a testament to his skill. But talent without tools only goes so far in modern MotoGP.

“It’s like FIFA, where all players have a rating of 99,” Quartararo said of Marquez, adding with a smirk that Yamaha may be playing with ratings closer to 85 — on a good day.

Final Word: A Season of Survival, Not Glory

Fabio Quartararo entered the season dreaming of a comeback — a return to the top, or at least a fight for wins. Instead, he finds himself in damage-limitation mode, trying to salvage what he can from a bike that fluctuates with the weather and fails to deliver under pressure.

And all the while, Marc Marquez is sprinting to glory.

Unless something radical changes at Yamaha — and soon — Quartararo’s battle will shift from racing for podiums to fighting for a future outside the blue garage.

Because as it stands now, the 2025 MotoGP season belongs to Marc Marquez, and everyone else — including Quartararo — is just trying to keep up. Check important info.