On Friday June 24, the press conference of representatives of the six manufacturers involved in MotoGP was held in Assen in order to take stock of their 2022 mid-season before the summer break.
So these are Massimo Meregalli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Team Manager), Paolo Bonora (Aprilia Racing, Team Manager), Paolo ciabatti (Ducati Corse, Sporting Director), Francesco Guidotti (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Team Manager), Livio Suppo, Racing Consultant (Suzuki Ecstar Team Manager) and Alberto puig (Repsol Honda Team, Team Manager) who summarized the first 10 races of the year before answering journalists' questions.
Note that the order in which they spoke corresponded, and still corresponds, to the ranking of the drivers and not the manufacturers or teams. It is therefore Massimo Meregalli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Manager) who spoke first, thanks to fabio quartararo.
As usual, we report here the entirety of their remarks without the slightest journalistic formatting.
The start of the season was a little difficult but since Portimão Fabio Quartararo has shown all his talent. How impressed has he been to you and in what areas has he improved compared to last year?
Massimo Meregalli : " As you say, the beginning was difficult. Difficult also because we expected something from Japan that we were unable to deliver. I think we also lost a bit of motivation and positivity. We then decided to stop thinking about what we didn't get, but try to maximize everything we did have. We went to Qatar and the race didn't go as we expected. It also took us a little while to understand the new aerodynamics. Then we moved to Indonesia where we got a very good result in the wet, in circumstances where we normally don't perform very well.
But I think the turning point for Fabio happened at COTA when, at the end of the race, he was able to fight with Marc, even though there was a big gap in top speed. When he arrived in Portimão, in my opinion he arrived with a different way of doing things. I think from there we really maximized our package and they worked really well in his box so as not to lose anything. He prepared for the race by working very well with the tires and all the little details were kept under control very well.
Furthermore, as you know, Fabio is really very consistent and at the moment he is probably the only one who can really exploit the strengths of our bike as best as possible. And he has a very solid feeling with the bike now. He is mature, more so than last year, because he improves the times wherever we go, and he is very determined. So I say mature because, in difficult situations like in Argentina or Qatar, he was disappointed but not in a bad way. So since we came back to Europe, he started to be really focused and fast, and what he did in the last three races was great in my opinion, because he got those results on very fast circuits, this at something we couldn't have expected at first. And also at the Sachsenring which is not really a very good circuit for Yamaha. »
Yamaha seems to be changing strategy by hiring more European engineers: How much do you hope Luca Marmorini will help develop the M1 in the future?
« The hopes are not only for this new synergy, but also for the fact that in Japan they have probably changed their minds. They still work internally but now they are starting to be more open-minded and focus on improving the bike and the results. For sure, I expect to see some results from this new collaboration, probably at the end of the season, because they are already, as you can imagine, working on the engine and the bike of the next year, but I'm happy and I'm very confident. »
You say that Fabio Quartararo is the only one who can fully exploit the M1: do you plan to return to a satellite team in 2024?
« Yes, I said that at the moment Fabio was the only one who could really exploit the strengths of the Yamaha. But we are working really hard to get Franco back to where he was in 2020: we know his capabilities and we will never give up until we achieve this goal.
The fact that we lost the satellite team, as you know, is not something we wanted. We were generally surprised by RNF's decision and we accept it, but now there is not much to say about it. In 2023 there will only be the factory team but it is of course important to have a satellite team and we will certainly start thinking about 2024 from the start of next year. »
It seems that, by betting everything on a single excellent rider, the strategies of Yamaha and Honda are different from that of Ducati which consists of offering a user-friendly motorcycle to as many fast riders as possible. What is the best strategy?
« Above all, it was not a strategy: at the moment we are facing this situation and, as I said before, we are convinced of Franco's performance and speed. Currently, we are really looking for a solution that allows him to be more comfortable on the bike in order to be faster and more consistent. Because in my opinion, the race results probably don't show what he did in the remaining races, while the pace he showed in the sessions is already increasing. What is missing now is the attack on the clock: he is suffering and it is also very difficult to understand that he is complaining that he has too much grip! And so he can't turn and skate as he would like. I am rather convinced that with a better starting position his race results would definitely be better, because as you know, and especially for us, it is not easy to move up positions during races. So by the time we've achieved the goal of moving him further forward, I think we'll start to see Franco regain his speed. »
It may be a coincidence but Franco Morbidelli's lack of performances corresponds to the moment when Ramon Forcada left to work elsewhere: Are you considering reforming the duo?
« Hmmm…I don't think that's the problem that hasn't put Franky in a situation where we all would like him to be. He is satisfied with his working group and we also have strong confidence in the skills of Patrick Primmer. So in my opinion he was already a Yamaha rider in 2020 and now he simply moved to a bike that is different from the 2020 while sometimes he tries to find the same feeling. But in the end we try to tell him that the 2022 bike has different characteristics. So we're working to try to make him comfortable on this bike with the staff that we have, and we also think that the staff that we have is a very good staff. »
This year, riders like Pol Espargaró and Marc Márquez have said there is too much technology on the bikes and it makes the races less fun to watch. Are you OK with that ?
« I really share Paolo Ciabatti's point of view. Ok, of course we have introduced a lot of systems in the last two years, but if you look at safety, the ailerons and a lot of electronic strategies bring more safety to the drivers. As with Ducati, our bike is very similar to last year, and regarding the fact that the races would be less fun this year, I do not share this point of view. »
