MotoGP | Yamaha seeks redemption with the M1s of Quartararo and Rins

Tomorrow in Sepang we will start to get serious, with the first day of collective testing of the 2024 MotoGP, but first there was time for the presentation of the official Yamaha team, which took place in Malaysia. The Iwata factory team is the sixth to unveil its colors in view of the season that is about to begin and the black and blue livery is very similar to that seen in recent years, i.e. since Monster Energy became the main sponsor instead of Movistar, now way back in 2019.

What is about to begin is a fundamental season for Yamaha's future in the premier class. The goal of returning to being competitive and successful is all too obvious after a 2023 to forget, with just four podium finishes between long races and Sprints, but in the long term there are at least a couple that must be achieved through performance .

First of all, in Japan they hope to be able to convince a satellite team to join the brand, given that to date Yamaha is the only one to have only two bikes on the MotoGP grid. Something that inevitably also has repercussions on the development times of the bike, which can be much shorter if you have at least four bikes.

Team manager Massimo Meregalli has never hidden that his preference would be for the VR46. Not only because it is a high-level team, which with the Ducatis has shown that it can be successful, but also because of the almost indissoluble bond with the brand ambassador Valentino Rossi.

The second objective is to convince Fabio Quartararo to continue with Yamaha even after his contract expires, which will come at the end of this season. The 2021 world champion has reiterated several times that at this stage he will not look at what Iwata can offer him financially, but that he will base his decision only on the competitiveness of the M1.

And from this point of view it must be said that Yamaha has received a lot of help with the introduction of the new concession system, which will guarantee it much more margin to develop the bike. Not only will he have more tires available for the private tests, but he will also be able to field his starting riders during them, just as he did during the Shakedown in recent days in Sepang.

Furthermore, he will not have to freeze his engine at the first race of the season, but will be able to develop it along the way, and from this point of view at least two evolutions are already expected during the year. But also from the aerodynamic point of view there will be an extra wildcard to approve a new package, while renouncing one of the two previous ones (in the Shakedown the ones with which the season should start were decided, which is the guise in which the we also saw today), as well as the possibility of organizing six wild cards with test driver Cal Crutchlow.

To try to make the most of these opportunities and to Europeanize a system that in recent years has been considered too “Japanese”, the development of the engine was entrusted to the team of former F1 engineer Luca Marmorini and the fruits of the engineer's work Italian should be seen on this year's engine.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

But not only that, because the strengthening campaign can also boast a slight to Ducati's reference points, because Max Bartolini, responsible for the performance of the vehicle, has arrived from Borgo Panigale and there are those who are ready to bet that it is a coup decisive if you want to try to get the M1s back to constantly fighting for victory.

The last, but not least important change concerns the line-up, because Alex Rins has arrived alongside Quartararo to replace Franco Morbidelli. The Spaniard is making his second brand change in two years because, after Suzuki's exit from the scene, the adventure with the Honda LCR did not go as he would have hoped, not so much in terms of results, but rather in terms of treatment by the manufacturer of Tokyo, who never considered him a factory rider despite having an HRC contract.

In fact, we must not forget that in Austin he managed to give Honda a success that it has been missing since 2021. However, at Mugello he was the victim of a bad accident in the Sprint and fractured his tibia and fibula. An injury from which he has not yet recovered 100%, even though he is now close to top form. In the meantime, however, the possibility of joining Yamaha as a full-fledged official rider arose and he didn't let it slip away. We will find out whether it was the right choice in the coming months.