Movistar Yamaha MotoGP · History

Yamaha Factory Racing, the Japanese manufacturer’s works team in the MotoGP World Championship, has been based in Lesmo, northern Italy, since 2002. Before then the operation ran out of the Netherlands. It was founded in 1999, when Yamaha withdrew its backing from Wayne Rainey’s team, which had fielded factory-supported 500cc machines for the previous two seasons, and took direct control of its premier-class effort. Over the years it has raced under many names, depending on the title sponsor of the day, including Marlboro, Fortuna, Gauloises, Camel, Fiat, Movistar and Monster Energy.

The Marlboro years and the four-stroke switch

From 1999 to 2002 the team raced as Marlboro Yamaha Team, with Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa. It began with the two-stroke YZR500, and in 2002, when the championship became MotoGP and opened the door to four-stroke engines, it introduced the YZR-M1. The team has raced that bike ever since. In 2003 it became Fortuna Yamaha Team, and Marco Melandri joined Checa in the second seat.

The arrival of Valentino Rossi

The big change came in 2004. Running as Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha, with Lin Jarvis in charge of Yamaha Motor Racing, the team signed Valentino Rossi, who had been winning with Honda. At the opening round, the South African Grand Prix at Welkom, the Italian won on his M1 debut, edging out Biaggi in a tight finish and ending a ten-race winning streak for Honda. Rossi won nine races that year and became world champion in 2004. He repeated the feat in 2005, by then under the Gauloises Yamaha Team name and with Colin Edwards as teammate, and the squad also took the teams’ title in both seasons. It raced as Camel Yamaha Team in 2006 and became Fiat Yamaha Team in 2007.

Rossi and Lorenzo under one roof

Jorge Lorenzo joined in 2008, alongside Rossi. The pairing lasted three seasons and produced three straight riders’ titles: Rossi won in 2008 and 2009 and Lorenzo in 2010. Yamaha also topped the teams’ standings in all three years. Rossi left at the end of 2010, and in 2011 the outfit adopted the Yamaha Factory Racing name, with Ben Spies partnering Lorenzo. The Majorcan won his second world title in 2012.

Rossi returned in 2013, and in 2014 Movistar came on board as title sponsor, renaming the team Movistar Yamaha MotoGP. In 2015 Lorenzo claimed his third championship, the team’s seventh riders’ crown, and Yamaha also won the teams’ title, which it retained in 2016. That was Lorenzo’s final season with the manufacturer.

From Viñales to Quartararo

Maverick Viñales took Lorenzo’s seat in 2017 and shared the garage with Rossi until 2020, when the Italian left the factory team. Monster Energy has been the main sponsor since 2019. Fabio Quartararo stepped up in 2021, and Franco Morbidelli ended that year in Viñales’ old seat; he stayed on as the Frenchman’s teammate until 2023.

Quartararo won the 2021 title. He sealed it at Misano with two rounds to spare, finishing fourth on the day Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of the lead. He became the first Frenchman to win the premier class, and it was Yamaha’s first riders’ title since Lorenzo’s in 2015.

Honours and recent seasons

The team has won eight riders’ world championships: four with Rossi (2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009), three with Lorenzo (2010, 2012 and 2015) and one with Quartararo (2021). It has added seven teams’ titles, in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016. Álex Rins joined Quartararo in 2024. In 2025 the Frenchman finished ninth in the championship and Rins nineteenth.