Alex Rins has stressed that his lack of competitiveness at struggling Yamaha has nothing to do with the limp he has been walking with since his freak accident at Mugello over a year ago.
Both Rins and Fabio Quartararo have voiced their disappointment with the lack of grip on the M1 increasingly loudly of late. They have cited multiple problems with the bike, which is the most sensitive on the grid to changes in the level of grip from one circuit to the next.
At Motegi, the Spaniard and the Frenchman struggled with the Yamaha’s lack of traction and rear grip. Quartararo finished twelfth in Sunday’s Grand Prix, more than 32 seconds behind winner Francesco Bagnaia. He lost a place to Johann Zarco on the last lap as a result of running out of fuel.
It was the second such case in three weeks for Quartararo, after exactly the same trouble struck at Misano two races earlier.
Six-time MotoGP winner Rins had an even more disappointing Japanese Grand Prix. He finished second last, more than 40 seconds behind Bagnaia and ahead of only the Iwata factory’s test rider, wildcard Remy Gardner.
The Catalan, normally a talkative rider with a great sense of humour, was not at all amused by his time in Japan. Apart from the result itself and the gap to the front of the field, he felt it could also mislead observers into thinking the performance level is down to something more than just the bike.
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Rins still has an obvious limp as a legacy of the left ankle injury he sustained when he crashed at Mugello last year, an accident that led him to miss more races (12) than he rode in (eight).
Another accident at Assen this season put him out of action in Germany and Britain. Rins’s best result since switching from LCR Honda to Yamaha for this season has been a ninth place at Aragon.
Despite his poor run of form, he stresses that the leg is not a factor at all.
“People start making wrong assumptions,” Rins told Motorsport.com. “If I had a left leg like my right, my results would be identical. On the bike, it doesn’t affect me at all.”
Yamaha is in the midst of a process of change as it looks to start climbing towards the top of the standings under the leadership of Max Bartolini, the technical director who arrived this year from Ducati.
In addition to regaining a satellite team in 2025, the Japanese manufacturer has advanced the V-twin four-cylinder engine project. It hopes to test this on track at some point next season.
But Rins and Quartararo may have run out of patience by then. “It’s obvious that we won’t have the V4 engine for the last races,” continued Rins. “If we’re lucky it will come on the scene in the middle of next year. We need something before that.
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“We are reaching a critical moment. It’s not that we are not working, but that we’re not getting it right.
“In every race, my heart rate doesn’t drop below 190 beats per minute. And that’s to finish last, 40 seconds behind the winner. It’s clear that this is not the way.”
Two Grands Prix ago at Misano, Quartararo’s seventh-place finish – which would have been fifth but for the fuel issue – was a breath of fresh air for Yamaha.
However, this was more due to the number of kilometres covered at the track than an improvement in the prototype’s performance. Two tests and two Grands Prix in the space of a month gave the technicians enough time to find the rear grip that they miss so much on a conventional weekend.
Another factor at Misano, according to Rins, was Quartararo’s affinity for the track.
“What happened in Misano was not a real [breakthrough]. For Fabio, that track is like Austin is for me.”