In 2021, the Yamaha M1 is the fastest motorcycle on the Grand Prix track.
The proof of that is clear: 2021 MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo. Quartararo has had five race wins, more than anyone else, and five fastest races. He also has five pole positions, one less than Pecco Bagnaia.
So the bike is fine, despite the chaos elsewhere that makes it look different. Quartararo is the only constant in 2021.
Valentino Rossi never managed to get around the new-build Michelins rear, and despite his objections, never quite the same after he returned from his duel with COVID-19.
Maverick Viñales won a race, won another podium and a pole, but also finished last, try to sabotage his motivesand left Yamaha after Austria.
Franco Morbidelli tore his knee ligament while riding a flat bike, missed most of the season and is still not fully fit when he returns.
And the Petronas team witnessed a veritable parade of characters taking Morbidelli’s place, climax with Andrea Doviziosowho was still having trouble adapting to the Yamaha, and to the Michelin rear tire he had never liked.
The Yamaha M1 has an obvious weakness. It’s slow in a straight line.
This is nothing new: Yamaha has always been slow in a straight line, but has generally been good enough to hold its own: Yamaha was the only bike to beat Marc Marquez to win the championship when Marquez entered the race. race.
At times, the lack of top speed has kept the Yamaha from being competitive, as happened in 2018. But it’s usually just fast enough to pair with faster bikes to take advantage of it.
Those strengths were well known: the ability to operate at angular speeds that killed all but Suzuki. The fate of a Yamaha is often determined by its ability to produce a steering stroke when exiting a corner and brake late before cornering.
That’s exactly what the newly introduced 2020 Yamaha M1 did better, although it took a year of improvement before this bike could compete everywhere.
What the 2021 Yamaha M1 has done well is drive out of corners early, a side effect of implementing corner speed, which means bikes have a start that leads out into a straight line and leaves fast bikes behind. More – especially Ducatis – need a lot longer straight to catch them by their remarkable top speed.
And what the 2021 M1 is particularly good at, especially in the hands of Fabio Quartararo, is braking and cornering.
The fact that the Quartararo is not only competitive, but also with wins in both races in Austria is testament to the bike’s power over the brakes, creating a lack of top speed on the sections. Spielberg’s extraordinary straight line.
More strength Please
So when it comes to what Yamaha riders demand from the 2022 bike, the answer is clear: more power and a higher top speed. And that seems to be what Yamaha has given them.
Unfortunately for Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, though, the extra power the Yamaha brings is just enough to keep up with the progress of the other bikes, not enough to close the deficit. The Yamaha 2022 makes it possible for its riders to step on the water, instead of swimming to shore.
“That’s what we have for the season,” Fabio Quartararo said at Mandalika. “I mean maybe we can find something but that’s our norm, last year we were at 9km/h on average, today we’re at 9km/h. So we didn’t take any steps forward.”
That left Yamaha riders somewhere between despair and silent resignation.
After the first day of the Mandalika test, when the track began to be cleaned up, Fabio Quartararo said, “Here as soon as the track is fine, I understand that too, so I will finally say that I am not. need time to see the situation of Yamaha. I know that and I know the behavior of the bike on the first test.”
The more things change, the more they are the same
The lack of power is a disappointment, which Quartararo made clear throughout testing, from Jerez, where Yamaha brought the first real prototype of the 2022 engine to the Mandalika.
“Honestly, it’s something really big that’s missing!” Quartararo said. But he didn’t focus on what he didn’t have, but focused everything out of what he had.
“Honestly, if I focused too much on that, my mentality wouldn’t be the same,” said the 2021 champion.
“I go max. If the bike isn’t enough, I’m not an engineer. So in the end all I can do is push myself to the limit and see what I can do to really fight for the championship and win. That for me is the most important thing, to fight for the championship. So to be honest we didn’t take the steps I expected.”
Focusing on what they have, rather than what they want, is the logical way forward for Yamaha riders. The prospect of having more power for the first race in Qatar is illusory. No time for major upgrades and no chance to test them.
And even with another test, Yamaha is unlikely to deliver an engine upgrade. “For three months, we didn’t receive something special. In two weeks, I wouldn’t expect something great,” said one Quartararo.
Special on Saturday
Yamaha’s traditional way to overcome its weakness is to rank in the front row. With a good start, the Yamaha riders were able to hold their ground at the front and once they took the lead they were able to break out of the back group.
But a good start is much easier when you start at the front, especially since the front and rear cutouts have made the difference between the bikes much smaller. That has made qualifying more important than ever.
And like I said before, the Yamaha is a very fast bike around a lap, and qualifying would be in its hands. So changes to the bike that seem to cause problems in the trim qualify must be taken care of. On Saturday at Mandalika, Quartararo was nervous. “I don’t feel too great at the moment to qualify. That’s what worries me the most because at that rate I’m not worried at all,” said the Frenchman.
The race speed was good, but that speed was gone when he put on a new tire for a timing attack. “I can go super fast with the old tire and everything, but with the new tire and one lap I missed some compared to last year. So this is the biggest difference and I feel like improving in that area.”
That improved on Sunday, the final day of the Mandalika test. “So this morning I was pretty fast, but not feeling great. So I was not happy. And this afternoon, the predestined relationship is really similar to the afternoon, so I’m happy. Because the lap times are much improved, my feeling with the bike has been much better. ”
The problem, however, was that he felt he had reached the limit of the bike. “Unfortunately, we have reached the limit. I felt limited everywhere, and lap times were good, but I expected a little better. But let’s see”.
This seems to be the biggest problem facing the Yamaha M1 2022. It is a fast bike around a lap and can register for competitive lap times, but it also seems to have come close to reaching its full potential.
“Honestly, I don’t know where we can improve,” said Fabio Quartararo. “You know, when you start to feel the front moving all over the place, the rear turning at the limit, yourself touching the elbows everywhere, it’s very hard to find more.”
This is the point where Yamaha needs to focus, Quartararo emphasized. “For me, it’s important that the team, especially Yamaha, work a lot in this area to find anything, have more speed to feel like they’re less off-limits.”
“Honestly, to go at this speed, every time I go on the track, I need to push a lot. In the end, it’s something that certainly every driver is at the limit, but it’s been quite difficult for us. “
Nothing left to come?
If there is one lesson to be learned from the 2022 pre-season tests, it seems that there is still very little room for improvement for the Yamaha M1.
This bike is fast, but it’s already pretty polished, and there may still be a few percent more to be found, the tenth or second that Honda and Ducati can achieve in the 2022 season will require finesse. fiercely from Yamaha .
Yamaha made the same strides as their rivals over the winter, but what they really need to do is close the gap. And the step they have taken, seems to be to further refine the package they already have, rather than creating new potential with new development.
There is another problem facing Yamaha, which is also clear from the tests, and is partly a consequence of the chaos that Yamaha faced last year. So far, testing and development has rested on the shoulders of Fabio Quartararo, the only stable element in Yamaha’s 2022 lineup.
Franco Morbidelli is still recovering and building strength in the knee he had surgery on last year. It will be a few races before he fully ramps up and shows what he can do with the bike.
Andrea Dovizioso continued to adapt to Yamaha, demanding a complete change in style from the Ducati he spent eight years with. “I am still not 100% satisfied,” said the Italian veteran.
“I’m improving. 3 days is much better than Malaysia. We changed the settings. We changed the processor. We tried different things. My feeling has been one better. a little bit. My adaptation has improved a bit. In others still not. the end result was not what I wanted because I wanted to be more forward.”
The good thing, says Dovizioso, is that he found a way to brake with the Yamaha. But that alone is not enough.
“In terms of braking, for example, I am much better. In some areas, I braked even better than Fabio and Fabio braked very well. So I’m really happy to have found that brake. This is very positive. But I am losing a lot in some other areas. And too much. ”
While Dovizioso continues his adaptation, his input on the bike’s development and direction is limited.
He could prove the value of the project – his long experience with Ducati and its technological advancements was the main reason Yamaha hired him, Wilco Zeelenberg told me at Sepang – but while he’s still adjusting to his driving style and trying to wrap his head around the Yamaha, his input will be limited.
Yamaha’s fourth racer is rookie Darryn Binder, riding a 2021 Yamaha M1. Putting a rookie on a seasoned bike makes a lot of sense: Binder’s biggest problem is adapting to power, system The brakes, the electronics, the driving style needed to go fast on a MotoGP machine.
He still has a lot to learn before he can judge whether a particular swingarm offers a better balance between grip and cornering stability.
The fact that he comes directly from Moto3, rather than from more similar Moto2 assortments, leaves him with more work to do.
And while his progress has been solid – he finished about half a second behind rookies Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, moving up from Moto2 – he clearly still has a lot of work ahead of him. It can provide useful input.
Photo: Yamaha Racing
