YAMAHA TECH: THE FIGHTBACK STARTS NOW
Yamaha have made a huge effort to get back to winning ways, but will it be enough?
This needs to be the year Yamaha digs itself out of the hole into which it fell back in 2016, when Michelin tyres and Magneti Marelli software arrived.
Last year the factory appointed a new MotoGP project leader, worked harder on updates for the YZR-M1 and launched an aggressive hiring policy, recruiting Ducati electronics wizard Marco Frigerio, signing two-year factory contracts with Viñales and Quartararo and hiring Jorge Lorenzo as test rider. All of this adds up to an historic outcome: 2020 will be Rossi’s final year as a full-factory Yamaha rider. This year’s YZR-M1 chassis doesn’t look much different, but the frame has been tweaked to use the edge of the tyres less, to reduce tyre degradation, the M1’s biggest weakness since the Michelins arrived. The factory has also ditched the carbon-fibre swingarm it tried late last season. Rossi has already discovered that the Michelin’s stronger construction 2020 rear slick is excellent for time attacks, which could end his qualifying nightmares, one of his biggest handicaps in recent seasons. The Japanese factory squad’s other big focus is improving peak horsepower, because last year’s M1 was dog slow. Good straight-line performance is important for two reasons: it’s the easiest way to overtake and it allows riders to stress the tyres less while compensating for a lack of top end. No one knows this better than Rossi, who as far back as 2007 asked for a V4 M1 to beat Ducati’s V4.
If the 2020 M1 can run a better race pace then Yamaha should be able to better their appalling win rate: just three victories over the past two seasons, compared to 11 victories in 2015 alone, the last year of Bridgestone tyres and tailormade factory electronics.
HORSEPOWER
Yamaha often had the fourth-fastest bike last year – behind Ducati, Honda and Suzuki – so they are chasing extra horsepower. Experts suggest they need at least 20bhp to negate their 5mph deficit.
That’s a huge ask!
AERO ADD-ONS
Improved aerodynamics are a more effective means to greater top speed than increased bhp, so Yamaha’s factory riders have been testing lots of bodywork tweaks, including different-shaped air intakes.
CHASSIS
Rossi likes Yamaha’s 2020 chassis, which he says offers better agility when he’s braking and then entering the corner, so he can be faster and more precise when choosing his line. This should help when he’s in a battle.
ENGINE- BRAKING
Michelin’s rear slick is better than their front, which is why riders stop the bike with the rear more than they did when on Bridgestones. Yamaha have worked hard on creating better negative torque and engine-braking electronics.
HOLESHOT DEVICE
Last year both Aprilia and Ducati used holeshot devices, so it was inevitable that other factories would follow suit. Overtaking is now so difficult in MotoGP that it’s more important than ever to get to the first corner first.