Alex Rins explains Fabio Quartararo’s edge on other Yamaha MotoGP riders

The 2025 MotoGP season has been another year of mixed fortunes for Yamaha, but if there has been one constant shining light for the Japanese manufacturer, it is Fabio Quartararo. While his Yamaha teammates Alex Rins, Jack Miller, and Miguel Oliveira continue to struggle with qualifying and consistency, the 2021 world champion has managed to extract performance from the M1 that nobody else has come close to replicating.

Recently, teammate Alex Rins shed light on where Quartararo is making the decisive difference. According to the Spaniard, the French rider’s ability to brake 20 meters later than the rest of Yamaha’s riders is the single factor giving him an edge in both qualifying and race conditions.

Yamaha’s Season in Perspective

On paper, Yamaha’s 2025 campaign has been difficult. The M1 has often looked like the slowest bike on the grid, lagging behind rivals such as Ducati, Aprilia, and KTM in both straight-line speed and one-lap performance. Despite this, Quartararo has dragged the machine into contention on multiple occasions.

The Frenchman has already taken four pole positions, started on the front row in half of the races, and secured two podium finishes across both sprints and main events. Beyond the silverware, Quartararo has been the only Yamaha rider to consistently finish inside the top 10, scoring 137 points—a tally greater than Rins, Miller, and Oliveira combined.

The contrast between Quartararo and the rest of the Yamaha garage is stark, as shown by the season’s performance averages:

• Fabio Quartararo: Average qualifying position 5.25, average GP finish 9.2, total points 137

• Alex Rins: Average qualifying position 15.56, average GP finish 13, total points 45

• Jack Miller: Average qualifying position 12.56, average GP finish 11.45, total points 58

• Miguel Oliveira: Average qualifying position 16.38, average GP finish 13.55, total points 24

This data highlights a consistent theme: while the other Yamaha riders are bogged down in the midfield, Quartararo keeps finding ways to put himself near the front.

Braking: The Secret Weapon

For Rins, the explanation is simple yet telling. The decisive gap comes under braking, where Quartararo’s confidence allows him to dive into corners 20 meters later than his teammates. This not only shaves critical time off a qualifying lap but also helps him defend or attack more effectively in races.

“I was really stuck there on the braking side. I could not brake later in comparison with Fabio, who is braking 20 meters later than me,” Rins admitted after the Misano sprint. “I saw the data of Oliveira and Miller. They are braking more or less the same as me. So it’s where [Quartararo] makes the difference. It’s where he puts us 0.8s on the fastest lap.”

That 0.8-second advantage on a single lap is monumental in MotoGP, often the difference between a front-row start and languishing outside the top 15. For riders like Rins, who have only made it into Q2 on four occasions this season, this deficit is proving impossible to overcome.

The Qualifying Struggles

If Quartararo’s qualifying strength has been the anchor of his season, the opposite is true for his teammates. Rins, Miller, and Oliveira have all pointed to one-lap pace as their biggest weakness, with the M1 proving particularly tricky to exploit on the soft rear tyre.

Starting deep in the grid has left them with too much work to do in races, where overtaking on the Yamaha remains difficult due to a lack of straight-line speed. As Rins put it:

“As soon as we qualify in this way, P17, it’s quite difficult to do the race. Because we don’t have a lot of chances to overtake. But apart from that, we need to continue. We need to continue working, continue finding the way.”

Oliveira Echoes the Concern

Outgoing Pramac Yamaha rider Miguel Oliveira echoed Rins’ frustrations. The Portuguese rider has yet to make a clean Q2 appearance this season and believes his race pace is much stronger than his qualifying results suggest.

“At the point where I am with the bike at the moment, realistically my position is between 13th and 10th,” Oliveira said. “Of course at some races, like we saw yesterday [San Marino GP], I can be inside the top 10. At the moment I am curious to see how much better I can do in the race if I qualify better. Because the pace is quite good and it’s not so far away from Fabio.”

This assessment highlights just how much of Yamaha’s current struggles boil down to one-lap performance. Quartararo’s ability to mask the M1’s weaknesses under braking and in qualifying is why he is competitive, while the others are stuck fighting from behind.

Jack Miller’s Mixed Bag

For Jack Miller, the situation is slightly different. The Australian has been able to out-qualify his teammates on occasion, with a stronger average grid position than Rins and Oliveira. However, his inability to convert those starts into consistent top-10 race finishes has left him in the middle of the Yamaha pack. His 58 points reflect a season of flashes rather than sustained form.

Quartararo’s Extra Gear

Ultimately, Quartararo’s 2025 campaign shows the gap between a world champion and his peers. While the Yamaha M1 remains a flawed machine, Quartararo’s late-braking ability and mental toughness give him a consistent edge that others cannot replicate.

Rins admitted that every rider in the Yamaha stable faces the same technical limitations, but it is Quartararo who is able to extract that last ounce of performance. The Frenchman’s dominance within his camp has been so clear that his point tally alone is proof of his superiority.

Looking Ahead

For Yamaha, the challenge is twofold: improving the M1’s baseline performance and ensuring that all four riders can tap into the same strengths as Quartararo. Until then, the team’s results will continue to hinge almost entirely on the Frenchman’s brilliance.

As Rins and Oliveira have pointed out, simply improving their qualifying could unlock stronger race results. But unless they find a way to match Quartararo’s confidence on the brakes, the gulf between him and the rest of Yamaha’s riders will remain.

Conclusion

Fabio Quartararo’s 2025 MotoGP season has been a masterclass in maximising limited machinery. His ability to brake later than his Yamaha teammates by up to 20 meters has allowed him to secure pole positions, podiums, and a consistent flow of points that the rest of the team has struggled to match.

For Alex Rins, Jack Miller, and Miguel Oliveira, qualifying remains the Achilles heel that prevents them from fighting further up the order. While they continue to search for solutions, Quartararo is proving why he remains Yamaha’s undisputed leader and the rider capable of carrying the manufacturer through its most challenging era.