Are we witnessing a revolt by Yamaha riders against their employer? We can wonder, because the three drivers equipped with the latest generation M1 are in unison this Saturday to vilify Iwata's management, the choices of the Japanese and warn for the future. A forest of discontents and frustrations that the Morbidelli tree in pole position for this Valencia Grand Prix does not hide, but with the “A-Spec” version. Fabio Quartararo said his words, Maverick Viñales said his mass, and this is what Valentino Rossi says…
Taking stock of his Saturday in Valencia, Valentino Rossi didn't have much to say about his performance. His ranking speaks for itself: unable to enter directly into Q2, he had a depressing Q1 only to fail sixteenth. End of the story. But the reasons for this failure are known, and too often repeated. Apparently not enough, since the situation persists at Yamaha , then the Doctor adds another layer: “ the problem is that last season was also difficult for Yamaha and we need to improve the bike in some areas. The first is the engine and the second is the grip. The first time I tried the bike I noticed that the sensations were very similar, they weren't very different. For me the problem is not that the new bike is worse than the old one, but that they are actually very similar, so we haven't made a big step ».
He specifies : " In my opinion, the big problem is that Morbidelli starts from pole, it drives very well. In recent years, it has happened on several occasions that the riders of the satellite team do better than those of the official brand with the old bikes. So for me we need to do some serious work to try to improve ».
“I don’t know if Yamaha has listened to me in recent years”
That being said, Valentino Rossi indicates that his patience is not ductile: “ I always talk about my feelings on the bike. The problem I think I have is that the problems of the past year have remained more or less similar. I don't know if they've listened to me these last few years, so I'm not worried about joining the satellite team in that regard, I don't think it will change much. Let's be clear, I love working with Yamaha, I have a lot of experience and I think I'm a very sensitive rider, so I try to give the information as accurate as possible. But we can't improve much ».
On the solutions, Vale gives some ideas: “ It is true that the engine is one of our weak points, but in a MotoGP there are many other things to do even without directly intervening. If Yamaha wants it, there is still a lot to do ". And it doesn’t just concern motorcycles… “ In recent years things have changed, first everything came from Japan, but now other manufacturers have structured themselves differently, they have more engineering teams working. Yamaha must adapt to this new method ». Cal Crutchlow It's going to shake things up for us!
MotoGP Valencia-2 J2: qualifying
