Wilco Zeelenberg is the team manager of the Petronas Yamaha team which recently presented itself with great fanfare. The boss Razali spoke, his right-hand man Stigefelt spoke and the drivers also wrote their prose, Valentino Rossi in the lead, who had things to say as a new recruit for the Malaysian colors. But in the organization chart there is also the Dutchman, who has not hidden his concerns about Yamaha's strategy in its preparation for the 2021 MotoGP season...
When the great chief of the clan Yamaha in Grand Prix what is Lynn Jarvis confirmed that the M1s would not see the track before the tests organized at Qatar as an off-season, the surprise was in order. Today it is giving way to a certain apprehension, even to a worry which is felt among Petronas, the team which does not like to be identified as customers, but which is nevertheless indeed treated as such by the Iwata manufacturer.
The proof with a Franco Morbidelli vice-world champion in 2020 and who is assessed as a possible favorite for the title in 2021. A status which has hardly influenced Yamaha in the treatment of the driver who will have an M1 “A-Spec” version and not the latest generation, as the contract with the team Petronas who pays for the material stipulates it.
Yamaha therefore follows its path and seems to remain deaf to any grievances coming from the stands. Result, after a 2020 campaign marked by disappointment, a sanction and the revelation of worrying weaknesses both from a mechanical and dynamic point of view, an assessment which should have prompted strong corrective action, nothing seems to have changed this winter at Iwata. While Bradl filed the Jerez track with his Honda, which Ducati mobilized Pirro, and that even Aprilia offered himself a trial run, at Yamaha , we remained at gunpoint.
Certainly, at Suzuki, the situation was the same, with the slight difference that we do not blame the GSX-RR which is the bike of the World Champion Joan mir. Losail and its six days of testing will be, for Suzuki and Yamaha, the first laps of their 2021 opus. If on the Hamamatsu side, we are not worried about it, at Yamaha, it is another story.
Wilco Zeelenberg: “It’s strange that the Yamaha didn’t turn.”
And this is where our Wilco Zeelenberg who, on Moto sprint says out loud what everyone is thinking: “ it is strange that the Yamaha did not turn ". There it is, it is said… He adds: “ you have to ask Yamaha why. Last winter there were problems with the frame, they had tried several different frames but the choice was not good. In Qatar we will have to evaluate all the equipment and the time will be short. I don't know how Yamaha prepares in this regard ».
The criticism is thinly veiled while Yamaha therefore relies on favorable conditions in Doha while hoping that everyone's PCR tests are negative. An imperative to take into account in light of the setbacks that this procedure imposed on Enea Bastianini...
So, in the club made up of M1, we cling to the hope born from the arrival of Cal Crutchlow as a tester who can help solve the ills of Japanese motorcycles. “ Cal knows how to explain things, he's very precise, he doesn't hesitate to say if something is really bad or good. I think it's an advantage to have him with us ».
Sure, but Zeelenberg returns to his first impression… “ It would have been nice if he had already accumulated a few kilometers because, at this time of year, we are approaching the start of the season and decision-making time is tight. His presence can be important for us »concludes the Dutch manager who just needs to be convinced.
