Yamaha still far away
The 'no' moment for Japanese manufacturers in MotoGP continues, as highlighted by the last day of pre-season testing on the Losail circuit in Qatar. The most obvious demonstration was in 14th place for Fabio Quartararothe 'best' of all the Yamaha and Honda riders as well as the first to be more than a second behind Francesco Bagnaia with the time of 1:51.965.
We still need time
A performance that underlines the limits of the YZR-M1, despite some improvements compared to last season's bike: “There is still a lot to do – summarized the 2021 world champion – theRear wheel grip is one of the main problems. I was behind Bastianini in the sprint simulation and I could see many things that they do much better than us. This is useful information for us. At certain moments, our bike doesn't give us more. But I think we have room to improve, even if we need to find those elements that give us more grip. The long exhaust was an improvement, but it won't give us more grip. It has some positive aspects and some negative aspects, but I decided to keep it.”
'El Diablo' continues to believe in the project started with the new Technical Director Massimo Bartolini, who arrived from Ducati, even if we will still have to wait to see concrete improvements, without thinking in the meantime about what his future in MotoGP will be: “We need more time and more tests – He admitted – I think we need another three or four months to see the progress of our bike. Let's hope they are obvious. I really believe in the project. Even though it's very complicated at the moment, I have the feeling that Yamaha is doing their best. I am not thinking about my future in these three or four months. I'm only thinking about improving our bike.”
Progress with the engine
Other comments then came from Alex Rinswinner of the last GP of the Americas with Honda and ready for a new adventure in Yamaha: “Overall, I think Yamaha has it improved the engine – explained the Spaniard, 16th on Day 2 – on the straight we were quite strong, so they did a good job during the winter break. Today we focused more on improving our set-up, trying to put the bike higher, lower, longer, shorter, to understand where we can improve, whether there is a margin or not. And, honestly, I made a step forward compared to yesterday, the first day in Qatar. We are still a long way from the top. I'm 1'52″ and Fabio is also 1″ behind the fastest rider, so we still have a lot of work to do to reduce this gap. If we want to fight for victory, we have to work even harder. But I think our way of working is the right one, so we are ready to go.”
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