It is obviously very difficult to understand exactly the situation Yamaha currently finds itself in, but several journalists in the paddock suggest that the Iwata factory would be in the crosshairs of the relevant authorities.
As a reminder, Yamaha experienced engine problems from the first race at Jerez, with Valentino Rossi forced to park his M1 along the protective wall six laps from the finish.
A new alert occurred during FP3 testing for the Andalusian Grand Prix for Maverick Vinales who immediately stopped at his box, then for Franco Morbidelli in the race who was also forced to stop.
It later turned out that the valves were the problem and, to remedy this, the engine speed was initially lowered.
Along with this, Yamaha sent the affected engines to Japan to diagnose the problem, which likely required them to be opened up since all three affected engines were removed from allocation.
Early August, Yamaha asked to be able to change the incriminated parts during a meeting of the MSMA manufacturers association before backtracking and declaring that the problem had been resolved.
Lynn Jarvis : “In the last two weeks we have had two MSMA meetings here at Spielberg. We have a very tight schedule with a lot of things to discuss besides the issue of our engines, like concessions and other things. A week ago, Yamaha made a request. Not directly to MSMA, but we sent it to the technical director of MotoGP because you have to talk to him if you want to open the engine to replace a component for safety reasons. »
“But we learned more about the valves and also the possible cause of the failure, we checked the situation, and we can handle it without any safety issues on the track. We will do this by combining engine tuning with engine rotation throughout the season. We are confident. In fact, we will be using these first engines this weekend. »
Since then, everything actually seemed in order, even if some did not fail to notice that, for example, the two engines used by fabio quartararo in Jerez 1 had never been reused…
Answer by Takahiro Sumi (Yamaha YZR-M1 Project Leader): « Regarding engine allocation, I'm sorry but engine usage strategy is a highly confidential subject during the season. So I'm not ready to say anything at the moment. I'm sorry. »
Yet today it seems that the engines used from Jerez-2 onwards by all Yamaha riders could, for one reason or another, not have been fully compliant with the regulations.
For what ? Nobody really knows, but the questions asked today during the press conference ahead of the European Grand Prix are no coincidence.
Although it may seem a little strange, the spanish press even reports that the matter would now be studied by the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel led by Freddie spencer which would study several possible sanctions, starting with a withdrawal of points earned with the engines concerned, whether directly to Yamaha in the manufacturers' championship, or to the four Iwata riders, or even both! Logically, the pilots are however in no way responsible for the sealed engines made available by Iwata.
There is no doubt that with three contenders among the top four in the championship, this affair has not stopped making noise...
