Champ is on the back foot
Fabio Quartararo’s face said it all, as he took his helmet off in the pit after the race. Knowing the cameras were on him, he gave a quick rueful smile. In private, it was different.
Last year, he qualified off the front row only five times, and claimed five pole positions. He swept to the title in spite of his Monster Yamaha’s lack of top speed. Even at Qatar, with its long straight where he was giving away 12kph, he’d managed to win the second race.
Having given Yamaha the title he might have thought his pleas for more top speed would be rewarded – but come the new year’s tests, the opposite was true. And at Qatar’s first race, even the previously slow Suzukis and Aprilias had caught up with Ducati, Honda and KTM – while the Yamahas were again some 10kph down, at the bottom of the list.
Last year, as before, Yamaha riders had been able to rely on superior corner speed to restore the balance.
In 2022. the equation has been skewed even further.
All the rivals have not only improved their engines but also their chassis performance. Yamaha’s top-speed deficit remained. The M1’s corner-speed advantage, however, has also been eroded. Quartararo was a dismayed ninth at Qatar, losing eighth on the final lap to compatriot Johann Zarco, and ten seconds off the winner … but still significantly top Yamaha. New factory teammate Morbidelli was 11th.
It’s only the first race, but with engine development frozen it’s hard to see the forthcoming 20 rounds of the longest-ever season offering much improvement.
Late last year, Quartararo had already indicated that more acceleration and top speed would be a prerequisite for any contract renewal for 2023. Having already lost Rossi and Viñales, Yamaha are going to have to dig deep.
10KPH Yamaha’s topspeed deficit at
round one