Exclusive interview with Fabio Quartararo: Fashion, surfing, and the return to the past in the future of MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo is one of the leading riders in MotoGP. The 2021 champion has been the strongest rider for Yamaha, despite being out of the top positions in recent years due to the constructor’s decline in competitiveness.

Motorcycle Sports had the opportunity to participate in an interview with the Frenchman on the sidelines of the Catalunya GP. From his passion for fashion and surfing to the future prospects in MotoGP with the 2027 regulations, it was a different conversation where you could get to know Quartararo a little better.

The passion for fashion

Question (Q): You are in love with fashion, right?
Fabio Quartararo (FQ): ‘Yes, I like it’.

Q: How do you compare yourself with Lewis Hamilton?
FQ: ‘I think with seven titles you can do much more things. But it’s something that I love and it’s something that I would say it’s also a passion for me. I like to have my own style and the people talk, but I like it’.

Q: What kind of brands do you love the most?
FQ: ‘Depends on which occasion. If you want something more classy, then on the… I love every kind of brands. Zara makes unbelievable jeans, the t-shirts of Balenciaga, whatever the brand is. But if I like the style, is the most important – more than the brand, it’s just what kind of pants, or t-shirt, or jacquet that I like’.

Q: I heard that you have a passion about sneakers?
FQ: ‘Not really. I have quite a lot, but I don’t really have a passion for sneakers. The problem is the hoodies, I have too much hoodies, and every time I like, I say: «Okay, it’s the last one I take». But at the end I have so many and sometimes I cannot even put it’.

The hobby: surfing

Q: How many times do you go to enjoy some of your surfboards?
FQ: ‘In the summer especially I like to do it. I live in Andorra, but one time per year I try to take a boat, go with the family. The brand is not mine, I’m just an ambassator. But I think is really nice and is something that at the moment I’m pretty good at that and I have fun. So I enjoy it in the summer and sometimes in the winter’.

Q: In the past you did something with Lewis Hamilton. How was that?
FQ: ‘It was really nice! We spent a day with the jetskis, with surfing. We could really enjoy and he is also really good at that, so we could make some really nice battles’.

MotoGP: the present and the future

Q: How will the new regulations affect your riding?
FQ: ‘In my opinion, I think we will go back a little bit like five years ago, when everything was much… I would say easier, with no devices. The wings will be much smaller, the bike will be a little bit less fast. So I think for overtakings and physically will be much easier. So I think it’s a good step for regulations’.

Q: How you manage to stay motivated after a failure of a bad race?
FQ: ‘You know, it’s not only a bad race; it was bad seasons for us – 2023, this year. But I think our motivation right now is to comeback to the victories and from January we have new people in Yamaha and I think that they’re really working hard to comeback. I think the motivation right now is not to be focused on short term of this weekend, «we have to fight for this position». What I think is where we have to arrive, and I think where we have to arrive is to be back to the victory and hopefully very soon’.

Q: Do you have a special object, charm, which you take to every race with you?
FQ: ‘In the past I always used a chain that was exactly the same as this one, but it broke. I always keep it on my backpack. And in Le Mans or Jerez, a fan gave me this one, so now I always have it with me. So I would say this one, and then I don’t really have special objects with me’.

Lucky charms and food

Q: How do you like to spend your free time, if you have it?
FQ: ‘To be honest, free time is not so much. But I hope that during the small time of hollydays I like to spend with my family, my friends, and we have one week in July – so hopefully we can make some parties’.

Q: What’s your favourite food to eat after a race weekend?
FQ: ‘I love pizza, I love burger, fries, ice cream. So I like everything. I try to change a little bit, but I think is also great to make pleasure for yourself – being a good race or a bad race. If it is a good race is a reward, and if it is a bad race is because you made a bad race and you take the comfort of eating that’.