MotoGP | Bartolini: “Yamaha underestimated the impact of some solutions”

Max Bartolini is the new face of the Yamaha garage. One of those who convinced Fabio Quartararo to believe in the Iwata manufacturer’s project in the darkest moment, renewing for another two years even now that direct access to Q2 like the one achieved yesterday in Le Mans is considered almost like a mirage.

Moreover, snatching him from Ducati, from which he was considered a key figure, to entrust him with the role of technical director, was certainly one of the great coups of the winter technician market. However, no one has a magic wand, so the Italian technician is aware that it will take time to close the significant gap that the M1 suffers today compared to the reference bikes. Furthermore, a bridge will need to be built to bridge the gap between Japanese and European culture.

“I’m very happy to have arrived at Yamaha. It’s clear that after 20 years of Ducati it takes some time to get used to, but everyone welcomed me very well and I got along quite well. Let’s say that the right word is that it’s a different environment. Obviously it’s a different culture, because I’ve always worked in Italian companies and this is the first time I’ve worked in a Japanese company, I felt very comfortable, even if three months is a very short time We are all quite aware that we have many things to do, but the positive thing is that we have in mind what needs to be done”, said Bartolini in an interview with Sky Sport MotoGP.

“It’s clear that there is a bit of a difference between having it in your head and doing it, but in general we have identified the areas in which we can improve. As you can imagine, however, a 7-8 tenths gap takes time to recover. We are working on it, we are producing some material and we are trying to put together the two experiences: mine, which is purely European, and Yamaha’s Japanese one as a working method. The goal is to combine the good of both cultures to try to close the gap in a reasonable time,” he added.

According to Bartolini, Yamaha’s problem is that it probably didn’t understand the impact that certain solutions proposed by its European rivals would have had, thus accumulating a delay: “More than being left behind, one could say that in some fields Yamaha was a little underestimated the impact that the developments brought by European companies have had. But this has now been understood and therefore we are trying to invest to cover the gap. It is clear that on some things, if you start a year, a year and a half later to invest heavily in some things, it takes a little time, it’s like that in all sectors of competition.”

In the latest Jerez tests we saw some important aerodynamic evolutions on the M1 and in fact the former Ducati rider confirmed the importance of this aspect in this era of MotoGP: “The way aerodynamics works, it adds forces to the bike, so it doesn’t it’s about changing the balance, but moving the bike’s limit. For riders, riding a bike with aerodynamics can be the same or even worse in terms of feeling, because it’s more challenging to push to the limit. Current MotoGP bikes are so much more to the extent that the difference that efficient aerodynamics can add is several tenths. Quantifying them exactly is not easy, but if you cannot have similar aerodynamic loads to the competition it is difficult for you to cover the gap that has been created in other areas. So aerodynamics, yes, it is necessary today.”

Alex Rins’ Yamaha YZR-M1, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Lorenza Dadderio

As already underlined several times by managing director Lin Jarvis and team manager Maio Meregalli, Bartolini highlighted the importance of returning to having more than two bikes on the track as soon as possible: “Right now, with such a demanding championship, even if you have the concessions, the official riders can run them very little. First of all because they are human beings and they need to recover. Then it is difficult to organize tests with such limited times. So it would be essential to have a satellite team being able to try to carry out more things with more drivers, also to give the drivers themselves a comparison to make their choices and the aspects to improve”.

In any case, with two very different motorcycle philosophies, it is not easy to transfer the wealth of knowledge built up at Ducati onto the M1: “I’m trying to understand how the Yamaha works and exploit its strengths. Because from the beginning it doesn’t seem like, but we have some points. It is clear that with a different engine architecture (the Ducati is V4, the Yamaha has an inline 4), the bike will always remain different. Many concepts that were used in Ducati, above all related to the vehicle, it is difficult to apply them here. However, many others are common, such as the aerodynamic balance and the way of working on the electronics. Those are experiences that we can try to carry over.”

A few days ago the 2027 regulations were made official, which include 850cc engines, a reduction in aerodynamics and a ban on lowering systems. One more thought, having to chase the competition, even if according to Bartolini it is possible to work in parallel: “Obviously we need to take this into account, also thinking about the 2027 regulation, which in any case is quite aligned with the current one, albeit with some differences. It is clear that yes try to invest the right amount on those things that will disappear like the lowering systems. Instead understand the concepts of aerodynamics and try to optimize it, as well as those on the engine and the chassis. These are all things that you can carry over to 2027, so in reality the bulk of the investment is made on technologies that will still be used.”