MotoGP Thailand Buriram J1: Yamaha gives Fabio Quartararo a great gift! (update)

This is information revealed by Canal+ and confirmed on our side: since this Thai Grand Prix, and until the end of the season, Fabio Quartararo has and will have an engine taking 500 rpm more than what 'he had previously.

This is therefore good news which rewards the French rider with both a slight technical advantage and a benevolent attitude on the part of Yamaha.

We have already discussed the subject and it is obvious that this “gift” is part of the seduction operation currently carried out by the Iwata firm towards the man who is increasingly appearing as an “anti-Márquez” for the future. And that's so much the better, because what is taken is no longer to be taken, especially since it seems difficult to envisage a return to the past for next year, which is perfectly in line with the declarations of Lynn Jarvis andEric Mahe, the one who defends the interests of Fabio Quartararo…

Technically, it is not these 500 rpm more that will transfigure the top speed of the M1 of El Diablo, because the power curve of the Yamaha does not rise during this additional rev. Just consult the table of maximum speeds reached by the different motorcycles published by the official MotoGP.com website to realize it: the four Yamahas are particularly well grouped, but behind the Ducati, the Honda and even the Suzuki, with a deficit of around 4 km/h over the competition.

Par contre, les 500 tr/mn supplémentaires autorisent une plus grande latitude dans l’étagement de la boîte de vitesses, ce qui, concrètement, d’après les estimations des techniciens interrogés, permet un gain de temps d’environ 2 dixièmes au tour sur un circuit “moyen”, davantage si celui-ci comporte des virages en première, et moins si tout est coulé, comme à Phillip Island.

Without going into the slightest detail, Fabio Quartararo However, he himself seems to have implicitly confirmed this information during his debriefing with the press: “In the first two sectors, there are almost no turns, there are the bikes with a more powerful engine at the front. But in the third and fourth sectors there are a lot more corners and that is Yamaha's main strength. Yamaha gave us a very good bike for this track and I'm happy with it. My long run was also very good, even surprisingly good. »

No one is going to complain...

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PS: contrary to what the cover photo might suggest, this is not necessarily a new engine supplied by Yamaha, but simply an electronic release of the maximum speed.
Does this concern just one or both engines? We do not know yet.
Fabio Quartararo legally has 7 engines but the electronic restriction aimed to only use five for the season, like at Tech3 and for financial reasons.
For the moment, the French driver has received two at Losail, then one at Mugello and one at Brno.
Before Thailand, he therefore had 4 engines available which each had.
#1: 35 sessions and 3 races
#2: 22 sessions and 2 races
#3: 22 sessions and 3 races
#4: 19 sessions and 5 races

Given these figures, it is possible that its least worn engine (#2) was unrestrained but it is also possible that a new engine was installed, with the mission of doing the 5 remaining races, even if it means using a restricted engine for the first practice sessions of each Grand Prix.

Il serait également possible  que le débridage soit lié à un moteur supplémentaire dans l’allocation d’El Diablo, et, dans cette hypothèse, le mot “cadeau” prendrait tout son sens ! Mais ce n’est pas ce qui ressort de la déclaration de Wilco Zeelenberg, directeur de l’équipe Petronas Yamaha SRT: “En fait, nous avons le même package qu’avant. Mais de façon réaliste, nous courons les dernières courses de la saison, et nous savons où nous en sommes sur le plan du kilométrage du moteur. Donc, nous avons le droit d’avoir un peu plus de tours/minute au cas où nous en aurions besoin pour rétrograder pour le virage suivant.”

We will try to delve deeper into the subject…

To judge the longevity of factory Yamaha engines, here are Maverick Vinales' numbers so far.
#1: 27 sessions and 1 race (obviously not quite normal)
#2: 18 sessions and 1 race (obviously not normal at all)
#3: 28 sessions and 4 races
#4: 31 sessions and 2 races
#5: 16 sessions and 4 races
#6: 4 sessions and 1 race