Yamaha’s latest prototype falls short: that’s what MotoGP champ Quartararo Really Thinks!
In a surprising turn of events, Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 MotoGP champion, revealed his disappointment with Yamaha’s 2024 prototype MotoGP engine. This disappointment comes especially after Yamaha’s collaboration with renowned Formula 1 engine expert, Luca Marmorini.
In recent years, Yamaha has faced challenges in matching the power of its competitors in MotoGP. This deficiency has unfortunately pushed them down the MotoGP rankings. To counteract this, Yamaha initiated a partnership in 2023 with Luca Marmorini, the former engine chief of Ferrari’s F1 team. The primary focus of this partnership was to innovate for the 2024 MotoGP season.
However, during the post-San Marino Grand Prix test at Misano on Monday, Quartararo’s performance with the new engine clocked him in at sixth place. Even more startling was that he lagged nearly 5km/h behind the fastest Ducati in terms of speed.
When asked about his impressions of the new engine, Quartararo confessed, “I tested it and the feeling was… I expected much better from this test. However, we need to remain optimistic and determine what went wrong to improve for the upcoming Valencia test.”
When probed further about the engine’s specifics, Quartararo was hesitant, stating, “The feeling is indeed different. I was anticipating more power, and it’s a bit challenging to highlight anything positive about this engine.”
Interestingly, Quartararo had a different perspective a year ago. He expressed more enthusiasm after testing the 2023 engine, admitting, “In 2022, when I tried the 2023 bike, it felt somewhat superior. However, that feeling wasn’t present today.”
Quartararo also highlighted the need for Yamaha to boost power throughout the engine’s rev range. Yet, he mentioned that the results from this test might not be the best metric due to varying grip conditions on the track and its influence on the Yamaha M1’s performance.
He noted, “When the track has high grip, it drastically alters our bike’s dynamics. The difference in performance between low grip and high grip conditions is notably smaller for our competitors than for us.”
He further emphasized last year’s shortcomings, pointing out how grip conditions and the resultant tyre wear can create misleading performance perceptions.
With these candid insights from Quartararo, it is clear that Yamaha has some significant strides to make to meet the high expectations set by their champion rider and the larger MotoGP community.
