It was shocking. The Thai Grand Prix was also the first for the factory Yamaha riders, using the V4 engine. And this represents a major shift in philosophy for one of the most legendary manufacturers in the championship's history. It's important to discuss this, because the result was (very) worrying.
A disastrous outcome for Yamaha
I know that we have only seen one race, and that it is too early to draw any conclusions about the hierarchy of the brands involved in the premier category. But you still have to go through a painful step., which consists of recalling the results of the Yamaha riders from the past weekend.
To think that Yamaha apologized at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix for a poor qualifying performance… Photo: Michelin Motorsport
And it was terrifying, to say the least. Of course, none of the four riders qualified directly for Q2. Fabio Quartararo was the best placed on Saturday morning, with the 16th fastest time on the grid. Behind them were Jack Miller in 18th position, Rins in 19th, and Toprak Razgatlioglu, the rookie, in 21st place.In terms of timing, to give you an idea, Quartararo was about a full second off pole position. while he is one of the best in modern history at this exercise.
In Sprint, it wasn't much betterMiller was the top Yamaha rider in 15th place, ahead of Quartararo, then Rins, then Toprak. And finally, in the Grand Prix, "El Diablo" regained his position as the brand's best rider, in 14th place. These two points gained should be put into perspective, as Quartararo gained two positions thanks to two rare strokes of bad luck suffered by Marc Marquez and Joan Mir, something that shouldn't happen again anytime soon. As for lap times, "El Diablo" finished approximately 31 seconds of the winner Marco Bezzecchi, which is no longer even a boulevard, but a highway.
Over the microphone, the drivers complain about all sorts of things, but what strikes me most is that the problems are essentially the same as they were halfway through last season. It's as if the project, in all this time (eight months is an eternity at the highest level), had not advanced one iotaAs if that weren't enough, all of this was done in front of the number 2 of the tuning fork company, Motofumi Shitara, who must not have been disappointed by the trip.
Adding it all up, Yamaha scored two points over the weekend. That's simply... the worst record after a race for the Iwata firm since the creation of Yamaha Racing in its current form in 1999. And none of them retired or crashed.
An untenable situation
According to the highly reputable journalist Oriol Puidgemont, Quartararo was furious at the finish of the Grand Prix. To avoid another farcical outburst from its star rider, Yamaha has forbidden the riders from speaking to journalists following this debacle.Only Paolo Pavesio spoke, and a very brief press release was published that evening. Frankly, I don't understand this decision.
On the one hand, I get the impression that Yamaha wants to limit the damage by not further tarnishing its brand image. That's understandable. But when a manufacturer resorts to muzzling its riders, it means the situation is truly critical, and try to imagine all that we don't know about what's happening behind the scenes. Just imagine that the 2027 prototype doesn't perform well on the test bench. Just imagine that Yamaha's entire future hangs in the balance. MotoGP It's compromised. Frankly, it's no longer tenable. But since Iwata apparently cares about his image, Perhaps the riders should have been briefed, clearly stating the intentions behind this switch to V4 engines: to waste one or two years building for the future – Jorge Lorenzo's theory, rather than prohibiting them from speaking when they simply want to express their views on the actual state of the project! This is more of an internal communication problem than a performance issue at this level.
The worst part is that Yamaha was able to test at Buriram. But what will happen in the USA or Brazil? Photo: Michelin Motorsport
It can get better… or not
Some observers remain optimistic about Yamaha. Yes, indeed, it's true, the V4 can improve over the course of the season, especially since the tuning fork company has very advantageous concessions to develop it. But it may also not improve at all.Throughout the history of motorsport, dozens of examples perfectly illustrate this phenomenon. And Yamaha is proof of that. They've enjoyed favorable concessions and a huge budget for years now, but if you zoom out, since 2022, would you say Yamaha has progressed or regressed? In 2023, it seemed Honda had hit rock bottom. And then, ultimately, without Marc Marquez, in 2024, it was even worse. And remember; between the beginning of 2024 and the end, it wasn't a night-and-day difference, far from it! It can always be better. But it can always be worse.Yamaha has the capacity to progress, but not to perform a miracle.
Since we're on the subject of pessimism, let's go all the way. In terms of positions, the blue riders only managed to finish ahead of Maverick Viñales, Enea Bastianini, and Michele Pirro over the entire weekend. But we can all agree that "Top Gun" and "Bestia" have significantly more room for improvement this year than Miller and Rins. And then, when Fermin Aldeguer returns, the chances of him finishing last are extremely slim.This means that all four Yamaha riders could very well finish in the last four places in the upcoming races. After all, Quartararo admitted that no new engine would be brought before Le Mans in mid-May!
Conclusion
We still need to wait before we can form a clear idea. But the order given by Yamaha to its riders on Sunday is a red alert.. I will probably write an article about Toprak, because, in this mess, he impressed me relatively.
What did you think of Yamaha's decision regarding its riders' public statements on Sunday? Tell us in the comments!
As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.
To be continued. Photo: Michelin Motorsport
Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport
