Fabio Quartararo is the 2021 FIM MotoGP World Champion!

Quartararo is the sixth-youngest rider to clinch a premier class world title, aged 22 years and 187 days old, behind John Surtees (22 years and 182 days old) and ahead of Valentino Rossi (22 years and 240 days old).

In the MotoGP era, Quartararo is the third-youngest Champion behind Marc Marquez (20 years and 266 days old) and Casey Stoner (21 years and 342 days old). 

In addition, Quartararo became the youngest Yamaha rider to clinch the premier class world title, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, who was 23 years and 159 days old when he took the title in Malaysia back in 2010. 

Quartararo became the first French rider to clinch a premier class world title and the seventh overall in GP racing along with Johann Zarco (two titles), Mike Di Meglio (1), Arnaud Vincent (1), Olivier Jacque (1), Christian Sarron (1) and Jean-Louis Tournadre (1). Thanks to Quartararo, France became the seventh different nation to win a premier class Championship. 

Quartararo became the first European rider to clinch the premier class world title without having previously taken a title in one of the smaller GP classes since Franco Uncini in 1982. Overall, Quartararo is the 17th rider to do so along with Les Graham (first Championship season in 1949), Umberto Masetti, Libero Liberati, Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Marco Lucchinelli, Franco Uncini, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Mick Doohan, Kenny Roberts Jr., Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

In the MotoGP™ era, Quartararo is the third rider to clinch the title without having previously taken a title in one of the smaller classes along with Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

By taking the crown, Quartararo brought to an end a sequence of nine premier class titles from Spanish riders: six with Marc Marquez, two with Jorge Lorenzo and one with Joan Mir (the longest sequence for a country in the class).

Quartararo became the first Yamaha rider to take the premier class crown since Jorge Lorenzo in 2015 and the seventh overall along with Giacomo Agostini (one premier class title), Kenny Roberts (3), Eddie Lawson (3), Wayne Rainey (3), Valentino Rossi (4) and Jorge Lorenzo (3). This is the 18th title for a Yamaha rider in the premier class.

Quartararo is tied in sixth place with Max Biaggi and Maverick Viñales on the list of Yamaha riders with most premier class wins, just behind Kenny Roberts (22 wins). Valentino Rossi leads the way with 56 premier class wins with Yamaha. 

With 20 premier class podiums so far, Quartararo is the French rider with most podiums in the class ahead of Christian Sarron (18 podiums). 

With eight premier class wins so far, since his maiden premier class wins at the 2020 Spanish GP, Quartararo has almost tripled the number of French victories before him (one for Régis Laconi, plus Christian Sarron and Pierre Monneret).

This season Quartararo has stood on the MotoGP™ podium more than any other rider (10 times), including five wins. This is this first time that a Yamaha rider has taken five (or more) premier class wins since Jorge Lorenzo in 2015 (seven). The last Yamaha riders with more than 10 podiums in a single season were Valentino Rossi (15 podiums) and Jorge Lorenzo (12) in 2015.

For the seventh successive year, the rider who clinched the premier class world title failed to win the opening race of the season. The last to do so was Marc Marquez in 2014. 

Fabio Quartararo: “I already don’t have my normal voice just a few hours after, I’ve cried a lot an screamed a lot! It feels amazing. When I crossed the finish line I thought about all the tough moments I had, and to be World Champion in MotoGP is something I never expected when I was in bad situations only a few years ago. So right now I feel like I’m in a dream and I don’t realise what’s happening to me right now!

“Of course I had extra nerves, I never started further back than P11 in MotoGP, and I’m starting P15 in one of the most important races of my career! We chose the safe, let’s say, tyres but for us the hard would have been better and I think the podium was there with the hard. I didn’t have stability when I was with the group, I couldn’t overtake. But I’m really happy with my race, even if I hadn’t won the Championship it’s great to finish P4. Super happy about the race and of course with the Championship it’s something extra.

“Just before starting the race I was with Tom in the office and I was nervous, feeling stressed and he said, ‘just think about the last three races you had last year’. They were a total disaster and I just wanted to finish the Championship whatever the position was. And today I started the race that made me World Champion. I think everything that happened last year helped me a lot to win the title today. Thanks to the people for supporting me in these tough moments, I think I learned a lot during these years in MotoGP and still have a lot to learn to achieve more results like that.

“To be honest, last year we fought to have the factory bike but with Covid and everything, the 2019 bike was better. But with the 2021 bike I felt much better, the feeling with the front is what has made me win this year, I think. The feeling I had. We know the power is something we have to work on, but the feeling on the braking to overtake – not this race but in general – has been much higher than 2019 and 2020. Yamaha has worked a lot, we still have a lot to improve for next year because we know that power is something important, but right now with the bike I was feeling like on, I’m enjoying riding. Also today I had a lot of struggles with the front but I still enjoyed it a lot, and that was the most important thing of the day.”

Biography

First Grand Prix: Qatar 2015, Moto3™
First pole position: Jerez 2015, Moto3™
First podium: Austin 2015, Moto3™
First victory: Barcelona 2018, Moto2™
Grands Prix: 116 (49 in MotoGP™)
Victories: 9 (8 in MotoGP™)
Podiums: 24 (20 in MotoGP™)
Pole positions: 18 (15 in MotoGP™)
Fastest laps: 10 (9 in MotoGP™)
World Championships: MotoGP™ (2021)

World Championship career:
2015: Moto3™ World Championship – 10th, Honda, 13 races, 92 points
2016: Moto3™ World Championship – 13th, KTM, 18 races, 83 points
2017: Moto2™ World Championship – 13th, Kalex, 18 races, 64 points
2018: Moto2™ World Championship – 10th, Speed Up, 18 races, 138 points
2019: MotoGP™ World Championship – 5th, Yamaha, 19 races, 192 points
2020: MotoGP™ World Championship – 8th, Yamaha, 14 races, 127 points
2021: MotoGP™ World Championship – 1st, Yamaha, 16 races, 267 points