Yamaha is beginning to ‘see the light’ at the end of the tunnel amid its current struggles in MotoGP, but is aware there is still a long way to go to catch up to the competition.
Yamaha struggled for performance in the opening half of the 2024 MotoGP season, breaking inside the top 10 only twice in the first nine grands prix.
This has left the Iwata-based brand a distant fourth in the manufacturers’ standings with fewer than a third of the points scored by next-best runner KTM (48 vs 165).
However, while the numbers may paint a grim picture, a lot of positive developments have been taking place behind-the-scenes that suggest Yamaha could eventually recover from its slump.
In the last three months, it has managed to convince Fabio Quartararo to sign a new multi-year through to the end of the 2026 season, while also luring long-time Ducati partner Pramac to become its satellite team from next season. It also successfully poached Ducati’s vehicle performance engineer Max Bartolini before the start of the 2024 campaign.
Yamaha has also been taking advantage of MotoGP’s new concession systems to bring new developments to the M1 in recent races, with riders Quartararo and Alex Rins particularly praising a new engine that debuted in Assen last month.
In an interview with Motorsport.com’s German edition, Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli spoke about how the Japanese manufacturer has made clear improvements over last year, even if that is not reflected in the championship standings.
“We are better,” he said. “During the winter we have been able to hire new engineers and especially one, Massimo Bartolini, is giving us an extraordinary job and support.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“He brought some reference, but also ideas and a different way to work. And we are in a better situation than last year, even though the races are becoming more difficult because the competition among the others is getting more tough. But we are seeing that we are making steps.
“This year we have the concession — someone should not be proud to get the concession — but we are trying to exploit this concession.
“This extraordinary time that we can spend on the track is helpful if you have material to test and if the weather supports you. Because we have been very unlucky.
“Basically, on five days of tests, we could really have only a good one, and it was in Valencia the week before Assen. But we really exploited that day as much as we could. And we were able from that test to bring the new parts in Assen.”
Asked if Yamaha can see the light at the end of the tunnel, he said: “Oh, no [we are not there yet]. We are maybe in the middle [of the tunnel]. We start seeing the light.”
Meregalli has identified electronics and weight as the two main weaknesses of the M1 package at the mid-point of the season.
Quartararo has often talked about how Yamaha has been lagging behind in the software game, while both he and team-mate Rins have suffered from arm issues at a number of races due to what they described as a “super heavy” bike.
“Electronics, for sure [is a major weakness],” said Meregalli. “We are really starting to work on it.
“And the weight of the bike. Its weight, but also its heaviness, because it is not only the weight that is the cause of this heaviness.”