The news of a mystery about the reliability of engines at Yamaha, which pushed the manufacturer to send its mechanics to Japan for in-depth expertise, was somewhat forgotten with that of Marc Marquez wanting to return to racing this Sunday. But she's there and she's pushing the brand to the wall. Indeed, during the Andalusian Grand Prix, all the M1 drivers had a new engine. And there are no more in stock...
At Yamaha , we have already used all our engine allocation. And that concerns its four pilots… Maverick Vinales had to fit the fifth engine during this Andalusian weekend. Yamaha must resolve as quickly as possible a mechanical problem that still remains mysterious.
Two engines used by Maverick Vinales et Valentino Rossi had been sent to the Iwata factory for technical checks after the Spanish Grand Prix. We also remember that the Doctor had to park his YZR-M1 a few laps from the end during the Grand Prix last Sunday. The Spaniard, on the other hand, used three of the five available engines from the first weekend of the season, after hearing suspicious noises.
The problem is serious
Mayo Meregalli denied reliability problems, but charts of engines used by Yamaha riders show that Casa Particular in Viñales also used the fifth engine available. Japanese engineers would try to investigate what was happening. An engine which, let us remember, cannot under any circumstances be opened as required by the regulations, so engineers use mini-cameras without opening the block.
This morning, Dorna provided the press with tables which summarize the use of engines in MotoGP during the first two races of 2020. While Ducati, Suzuki, Honda, KTM and Aprilia only used two people engines per rider at Yamaha, it is surprising to note that Yamaha riders have already used up to five engines in just two weekends.
In the Petronas SRT team, Franco Morbidelli et fabio quartararo have already used four engines. Valentino Rossi has already used four engines, while Maverick Vinales touched it five. The engines available this year are only five, and not seven as usual, since the scheduled races are 13. Even if we are not there yet, the maximum risk is that some Yamaha riders take the start of the race from the pit lane in the coming weeks for having exceeded the maximum number of engines… It will be recalled that Morbidelli apparently broke an engine during the race in Andalusia… To be continued.
