In the last rounds, both Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo raised the tone of their statements due to disappointment with the lack of grip of the M1 and the multiple problems of the bike, the most sensitive on the grid to changes in the level of grip from a circuit to the other.
At Motegi, the Spaniard and Frenchman struggled with the Yamaha’s lack of rear traction and grip. Quartararo finished in 12th place, over 32 seconds behind Pecco Bagnaia, the winner, and after being overtaken by Johann Zarco on the last lap due to excessive consumption of the engine, which ran out of fuel immediately before crossing the finish line, exactly as had happened in Misano two weeks earlier.
Rins’ case was almost more striking, because he finished second to last, over 40 seconds behind Bagnaia and only ahead of Remy Gardner, the test driver of the Iwata manufacturer, who participated in Japan as a wild card. The Catalan, normally a talkative rider with a great sense of humour, was not at all amused by his stay in Motegi. Aside from the result itself and the gap that separates him from the top of the standings, it could also lead some to think that the reason for his lack of determination is not just a consequence of the prototype he is driving.
Rins has a noticeable limp due to the left ankle injury suffered last year during the crash at Mugello, which led him to miss more races (12) than he took part in (8). At Assen, another accident knocked him out of action in Germany and at Silverstone. Despite his poor form, he points out that leg is completely out of the equation. “People start to make wrong assumptions. If I had the same left leg as the right, my results would be identical. On the bike it doesn’t affect me at all,” Rins told Motorsport.com.
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Yamaha is in the midst of a process of change to start climbing to the top of the standings. Under the guidance of Max Bartolini, the technical director who arrived this year from Ducati, the tuning fork brand is working on all fronts to achieve its goal, which will be anything but immediate. In addition to regaining the satellite team in 2025, the Japanese company has continued the V4 engine project, which it hopes will be tested on the track at some point in the next championship. But by then, Rins and Quartararo will be out of their minds if they don’t start to notice an improvement.
“It’s obvious that we won’t have the V4 engine for the last races; if we’re lucky, it will arrive in the middle of next year. It’s a project, but first we need something. We’re reaching a critical moment. Not because we’re not working, but because we’re not doing things right. In every race my heart rate doesn’t drop below 190 beats per minute. And this is to finish last, 40 seconds from first”, reflects number 42, to the person writing these lines. “It’s clear that this is not the way,” adds the Spaniard.
At Misano, two Grands Prix ago, Quartararo’s seventh place, which would have been fifth if he hadn’t run out of fuel at the last corner, was a breath of fresh air for Yamaha. However, the revitalization of the M1 was due more to the combination of a number of cyclical factors than to an improvement in the prototype’s performance.
Firstly, the amount of kilometers traveled on the Marco Simoncelli circuit, which combined two tests and two Grands Prix in one month. In this way the technicians had enough time to find the rear grip that is so lacking in a conventional weekend. And then because, according to Rins, it is a track where “El Diablo” is very comfortable. “What happened in Misano wasn’t a real x-ray. For Fabio that track is like Austin for me. What he did must be done, but let’s say it comes naturally to him”, said the Catalan driver, who obtained the ninth place in Aragon as his best result since wearing the Yamaha colours.
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