When for his Ducatigate which triggered the wrath of all other manufacturers after the Qatar Grand Prix, only one voice was not heard regarding the swingarm spoiler put on track by the men of Borgo Panigale: that of Yamaha.
The Iwata manufacturer is in fact the only one not to have lodged a complaint against the aerodynamic appendage fixed under the GP 19 ofAndrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci et Jack Miller, officially supposed to cool the rear tire but suspected of also providing aerodynamic downforce.
Not because they themselves had tested an element visually resembling it (but totally different in its effect since it only keeps the rain away from the rear tire), but rather because Lynn Jarvis believes that all these technical discussions should be resolved internally within the MSMA manufacturers' association, rather than seeing complaints brought into the public eye.
In an interview with Manuel Pecino and Neil Morrison for Motosprint, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team manager explains: “ an event after the first race of the season, it's a bold and extreme move that can have consequences of some type. Because in all cases, the appeal always has a cost: the matter becomes public and a lot of noise is generated. The four manufacturers have decided to take this path. We did not take the situation linked to the Ducati device in the same way. We also used this type of spoiler last year, although it happened in wet weather. But in general, these are situations that make you more angry, you take them more to heart and you decide to take an important step like complaining. We respect the rules and the verdict rendered. The only thing I would like to say is that in the past, such a subject would have been discussed within the manufacturers' association, the MSMA, before becoming public. And I hope that in the future we will return to this way of doing things. This is also why we did not address the issue. I'm not saying that with an internal discussion we would have reached a solution with all the manufacturers, but trying would have been fair, then, in the absence of a solution, it would have been understandable to make the discussion public. Instead, we didn't try to resolve the situation that way and calling was an extreme choice.
The rules are written by the FIM. But generally speaking, whether it is a rule, a principle or a decision, it must be defined with more precision and above all applied and controlled with precision. It's a necessity for us. The MSMA can certainly be part of this path, I truly believe that the manufacturers, the FIM and Dorna must also reach an agreement to increase the professionalism of the entire MotoGP system.”
To date, no MSMA meeting has taken place on the subject and the decision is still in the camp of the technical director Danny Aldridge, which has also since approved the appendices of Honda and KTM, waiting that of Aprilia, and perhaps those of Yamaha even Suzuki, the latter however seeming a little less convinced of the necessity of this element.
“If this continues, we will probably think about (using it). One of the certainties is that it cools the rear tire, and according to the data revealed by Dall'Igna, we are talking about seven or eight degrees, and that is important. We were the first to use it because we were convinced that in the wet the rear tire would have a lot of water. I think Dall’Igna saw our idea and studied it.”
By approving Ducati's "tire cooler", Danny Aldridge has opened a Pandora's box and therefore has no other solutions, even if he technically has no way of verifying the manufacturers' claims, other than approve all elements of competition. At least, until a clear and precise regulation defines what it is possible to do in this area... And how to control it!
