Fabio Quartararo puts together the perfect season to become France's first World Champion in the premier class.

Quartararo Is MotoGP Champion

Fabio Quartararo gave notice of his intent from an early age. He won six national Spanish championships before moving to the Moto3 World Championship in 2015. However, after so much success, his four years in Moto3 and Moto2 (two years in each category) were lean times, with only 1 win, in his final year of Moto2.

But none of this could have prepared him (or us!) for the immediate success he was to find in MotoGP from 2019-onwards. In his first year on board the satellite Yamaha M1, running under the banner of the Petronas Yamaha SRT team, he netted 7 podiums: an unprecedented achievement. In 2020, he mounted a serious championship challenge, racking up three wins, only to fade later in the season. This lead many observers to question his mental fortitude.

However, 2021 was the season that silenced the critics once and for all. Taking five wins and a further five podiums, this time riding the full factory Yamaha, he displayed a strength and maturity of character to take the championship with two rounds left to run. It is Yamaha's first championship since 2015 and Quartararo becomes France's first World Champion in the premier class.

There are some who will claim that his championship, like that of Joan Mir's in 2020, lacks validity as Marc Marquez was not fully fit (or even present in the case of Mir in 2020). But that's not to say Quartararo lacked competition. Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia was mathematically in with a shout to take the title right up to the moment he crashed out of the lead in Misano, the third-last race of the season. Marquez himself has got stronger and stronger as the season has progressed, taking three wins so far, although his early-season lack of fitness after the accident that took him out of the 2020 season prevented him mounting a season-long challenge.

No, Quartararo won this championship on merit and not through the misfortune of others. His success sets up 2022 nicely: Marquez will be back up to full strength, Bagnaia will be even stronger on the Ducati, Morbidelli on the second factory Yamaha will be back to full fitness, Miller on the second factory Ducati will always be a threat and you never count out the KTMs or Suzukis. Valentino Rossi might be saying farewell, but he is leaving MotoGP racing in a healthier place than it has been for a long time.

Topspeed.com joins the racing world in congratulating Fabio Quartararo on his title.