Like his colleagues from the 5 other manufacturers, the new technical manager of Yamaha MotoGP, Takahiro Sumi, was able to take stock in front of the press after the first half-season of 2019.
Here is our translation of his entire remarks.
How do you analyze Yamaha's 2019 season so far?
“Regarding the current situation, we did not expect it to be like this on the Factory side. We have improved the bike compared to last year on certain circuits, certain layouts, but unfortunately the gap in top speed with the fastest is greater. It is now more difficult for the 4 Yamaha riders to fight with the others during the races. This is our biggest problem and we still need to improve this for the rest of the season.”
“As for Valentino, he was able to make a good start to the season, but he struggled at Le Mans and Mugello, where he had been very strong in the past. The reason is that we could not find good basic settings to satisfy its handling and tire durability. This is the main problem and we are now working on it. For Maverick, the situation is a little different because he struggled at the start of the season with the consistency of his performance. But after finding good basic settings in Barcelona, he was able to perform at the best level with very good consistency, and he brought a valuable victory to Assen, which is a good sign for himself but also for Yamaha, to regain our confidence in the current bike and in the direction of development followed.”
“Regarding our satellite team, we are extremely happy, not only with the performance of the drivers but with the excellent work done by the team. They only started at the end of last year from scratch, and it’s a fantastic thing.”
The Yamaha is typically user-friendly with great cornering speed. How to improve top speed without losing that?
“It’s very difficult but we have never had the best final power in the paddock. We have always tried to improve top speed but it is not easy to achieve a compromise with our user-friendly motorcycle. This is our main objective, now and in the future.”
Its riders say the Yamaha suffers more when grip is low. Do you have an explanation for this?
“I would like someone to explain it to me (laughs) because it is still a historical problem with our M1. The level of grip still depends on road holding as well as acceleration. With the settings we try to find different characteristics of the engine, but everything is very connected in this area, and we also continue to try to progress by system. I can’t explain it clearly but it remains our main problem.”
How frustrating is it to see that all the good work Maverick Viñales did during practice often comes to naught during the first few meters of the race? Is it the bike, the electronics or Maverick?
“In Brno there was a reason because the conditions were very special and, unfortunately, the track was not completely dry in front of him on the starting grid. It was different from the outside part of the track. But overall, his starts are now very good. He struggled at the start of the season but now he knows how to use our clutch and our engine. We also helped him improve with some throttle adjustments, and now it’s not so bad.”
After piloting the prototype 2020 during the test in Brno, Valentino said that something had changed at Yamaha. What is this change?
“After last year's disastrous season, especially at this track where we had a critical moment (Red Bull Ring), it was a turning point because it was no longer just about changing the bike but changing ourselves ourselves in terms of how we think about and develop the bike. We started to change small but many things. The bike still isn't much different, but operations have now changed at Yamaha headquarters. We now understand that we had to change and we are currently going through a moment of crisis, and at Yamaha we all feel involved in this fight to develop a more competitive bike for next year. We explained it in detail to the pilots and the pilots understood our plans for the future.”
Have you made any specific changes yourself?
“I started to think the problem was that we had lost the direction of development in certain areas after the tires swapped. If we don't fix an issue, it usually grows, and for M1 2020, it's impossible to fix everything at once. We are now focused on the most critical areas, the priority areas. All development staff on this project are now focused on these specific areas. Then we’ll move on.”
What do you think of the idea of having an engine upgrade authorized during the year, which is prohibited at the moment?
“As the manufacturers said last week, this idea of changing the regulations has pluses and minuses: we can change more but the resource problems can get worse. We haven't talked much about this yet and we don't have a position on the subject. If the rules change in the future, not only on the engines but also on the number of races, we could discuss it for the future.
Ducati innovates with aerodynamics, and KTM pursues its own path with its chassis and suspensions. Do you think that in the future, Yamaha must be more courageous to innovate?
“We are still thinking about all the options, including visually innovative things, but we are currently focused on the fundamental characteristics of the bike. Of course, anything can help and I hope you can see things in the future, but we are currently more focused on the fundamentals of performance.”
After the test in Brno, Valentino and Maverick were not particularly happy with the power of the new engine. Will you bring anything new to the test in Misano?
“In Brno we brought engines and other elements for the 2020 bike, but these were the very first prototypes to confirm our development direction. Both drivers gave us good feedback to define the way forward, and we are ready to progress in the next session and go deeper to optimize our testing opportunity for next year. We will bring something new at every opportunity.”
In 2020, Michelin will resume the development of its tires. How much does this affect your motorcycle?
“Regarding the tires, we are now happy with the current allocation because we can concentrate on our own things. Michelin brought two prototypes for next year and the drivers are certainly happy with them because the degradation over time is good. For our part, we are very careful about how this affects and changes characteristics. So we have to look at that very carefully.”
What do you think about possible changes to the characteristics of MotoGP, such as the number of cylinders or the weight which seems important for a prototype?
“Regarding weight, the current one is a compromise between that of a prototype and that of a Superbike. We think this is a normal thing because the main difference between a prototype and a Superbike is the engine power. The weight of the chassis or electrical components does not count and the main difference in weight comes from the propulsion unit (engine-transmission). The weight (of MotoGP) is mainly dependent on that of the propulsion assembly. The current weight therefore seems normal to us and we do not see any particular problem in the current regulations. Change the weight? (No) It’s (currently) OK for us.”
Photo credit : MotoGP.com
