The Austrian Grand Prix once again underlined the free fall of Yamaha in MotoGP, a former power which seems unable to keep up with the frenetic pace imposed by the now European leaders of the championship. Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, the two factory drivers, certainly finished the race, but apart from some probably useful data collection, they took nothing away from Spielberg.
However, the weekend had started with little hope. The duo's lap times Yamaha were almost identical and only 0,8 seconds behind Jorge Martin. But this glimmer of hope was quickly extinguished in the first free practice session, leaving the team in an embarrassing and worrying situation.
When for his sprint, fabio quartararo was the only one to complete all 14 laps, finishing in a modest 12th place, just ahead of the TrackHouse Aprilia riders. As for Alex Rins, his race was stopped after just 10 laps due to an engine failure. A performance which perfectly illustrates the persistent difficulties of Yamaha .
La main race offered no respite. Quarterly, who had managed to make his way in front Marc Marquez at the start, quickly saw his hopes dashed by a long lap penalty, finishing 19th, while Kidneys could not do better than 16th. No points scored, just a bitter taste of failure for the drivers Yamaha , who left the circuit without a word, visibly dejected.
Massimo Meregalli Yamaha: “ we didn't expect such a difficult weekend »
The team director, Massimo Meregalli, did not seek to minimize the disaster: “ it was a racing weekend to forget. We didn't expect such a difficult weekend. »
It's clear that Yamaha is now facing a deep crisis, and Meregalli could only emphasize speedweek the importance of the next test program, where Andrea Dovizioso will play a key role: we need to understand the cause of this poor performance. If the results are good in Misano, we hope to bring the parts directly to Aragon »
But with a gap that continues to widen compared to the leaders, and disastrous performances in the race, Yamaha seems more and more overwhelmed, struggling to regain dominance Ducati ever more overwhelming.
