MOVISTAR YAMAHA
Riders: Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi
P RE-SEASON THEORIES SUGGESTED Yamaha would deal well with MotoGP’s technical transformation, because the M1 isn’t so hard on front tyres and Yamaha have done a lot of work with Magneti Marelli over the years. Five wins from the first seven races seemed to confirm those theories, with the Yamaha less affected by the changes than any other factory. “When we tested with Michelin last year, we were worried because we were slow, we crashed and we had no front feeling,” explains Rossi. “But the front tyre has improved a lot, so now we use very similar settings to what we used with Bridgestone. Also, I grew up with the Michelins, so I feel very comfortable now.”
Rossi’s age and experience have also helped him with the lower-tech unified software. “We expected a big, big step back, but in the end it’s only half a step back,” he adds. “Overall, the bike is now very similar to last year.”
In fact, the lower-tech rider aids may actually help Rossi, who grew up without traction control.
“Valentino says he now has more control in his hand, which is sometimes good because he can make a difference over other riders,” says Rossi’s crew chief, Silvano Galbusera. “Dorna’s target for the unified software was to make the racing more equal but, in fact, they have helped the top riders more! I believe the best ECU is still the rider’s brain. The bad thing Valentino notices with the electronics is that they react slower because the working calculations from the ECU are slower. It’s only milliseconds but the riders feel it.” Luckily, two other technical changes have compensated for the inferior electronics. “When the Michelin rear spins, you still have drive, whereas with the Bridgestone you lost acceleration,” adds Galbusera. “Also now that we have 22 litres of fuel, instead of 20, the acceleration is smoother because we have a better fuel-air mixture.”
In June Yamaha gave Rossi and Lorenzo a revised frame with different stiffness, to work better with the Michelins. Rossi rejected the frame, while Lorenzo uses one bike with the old frame and one with the new. “The new frame is better in some areas but Vale feels the front is less stable, so he prefers the standard frame,” adds Galbusera. “The balance of his bike is like last year’s, though we have adjusted the front geometry and we use harder fork springs to stress the front tyre less.”
Despite all this, however, Yamaha have one problem. They can’t generate enough heat into the front tyre when the track is cold and/or wet. This has caused Rossi and Lorenzo problems at cooler races like Assen and the Sachsenring. Indeed, Lorenzo is in big trouble whenever the sun doesn’t shine because his super-smooth style requires so little fore/aft pitch that his M1 heats the tyres even less.