Yamaha is deep in crisis and the riders are sounding the alarm – Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins are struggling with frustration, helplessness and a lack of perspective
The Grand Prix in Austin once again ruthlessly revealed just how deep Yamaha’s current crisis is: Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins finished Sunday in last place, behind their Pramac colleagues.
While the competition is gaining ground, the factory riders are not only struggling with their bikes in the still young MotoGP season, but also increasingly with their motivation.
On Thursday, there were already signs of how much Quartararo is struggling with the current situation. The 2021 World Champion knows exactly what he is capable of, but the current package does not allow him to realize his potential.
“It’s hard because I know what I can do and unfortunately we can’t show it. Not to the people – to myself. I’m not really happy with what I’m doing,” the Frenchman explained openly. Nevertheless, he is trying to remain calm and continue to do his best, however difficult it may be on weekends like this one.
Perplexity prevails at Yamaha
After Friday’s practice sessions, it became clear that the problem goes deeper than just speed. Quartararo described an almost worrying consistency, but in a negative sense. Because changes to the bike, whether to the set-up or the tires, seem to have little effect.
“It doesn’t matter which tire casing we ride or which track we are on, the feeling is always the same,” he mused. What is particularly frustrating is that even major set-up changes have no noticeable effect. “We change the bike massively, but we don’t see any difference. Not even a worse one.”
This lack of feedback makes development work extremely difficult. Instead of a clear direction, there is uncertainty as to why the bike reacts the way it does.
Quartararo: Experiments instead of points
Accordingly sobering was Quartararo’s conclusion after the race. The weekend did not provide any real insights: “I don’t think you can take much from a race like this.” The 26-year-old used the gap to the leaders to experiment in the race. “We were so far away that I was able to try out a few things. But it’s clear that it’s not working.”
Especially alarming: the Frenchman is already preparing himself for the fact that things won’t change any time soon. “I expect it to be a very long season. At the moment, the team doesn’t really have an idea of how we can solve all the problems.”
Hope for Jerez or disillusionment?
At the same time, Quartararo warns against sugar-coating things within the team in any way. “We have to stop comparing lap times so much. Yes, we were half a second faster in qualifying than last year, while the others gained a second,“ the Yamaha rider calculates.
”So it will also be good for the team to see that the lap times on tracks like Jerez and Le Mans are much slower than last year. I think it will be good for the engineers to see that” in order to be able to identify problems more clearly.
Quartararo’s changed role within the team is also striking. The Frenchman is deliberately withdrawing somewhat from the development work. “I’ve already told them what we need. I’m not going to repeat it every time,” he clarifies. The responsibility now lies with the engineers.
It is uncertain when improvements will be made. “I don’t have any real news, but something big definitely needs to happen,” he says, looking ahead to the next race.
Teammate Rins also had a weekend to forget in Austin. The Spaniard, who has been successful on the Circuit of the Americas several times in the past – he celebrated two victories here – found himself at the back of the field this time.
“It was a tough weekend. We’ve won here a few times before, but now it’s extremely difficult to control the bike – grip, turning in, everything,” he explained after the sprint. Even in qualifying, it was only enough for last place on the grid: “I gave 100 percent, and yet I’m still last.”
In the sprint itself, there was slight progress in terms of turn-in behavior, but the problems remained. Rins was stuck behind the competition before he finally crashed: “I was behind Jack [Miller] until I slid over the front wheel.”
He was even clearer after the Grand Prix. “It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the bike,” the Yamaha rider made no secret of his ongoing frustration. Added to this is the uncertainty about his future: “I don’t know if I’ll still be here next year. Of course, results like this don’t help.”
