The Yamaha MotoGP team thinks it has turned a page and can “see the light” with its development, though admits there’s more work needed to be at the sharp end.
Yamaha has endured a tough start to the current season, with Fabio Quartararo coming home inside the top 10 twice and Alex Rins scoring points on four occasions.
The Japanese marque is sat fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship, with rival Honda transpiring to be the one constructor that is struggling worse than Yamaha.
But despite those troubles, Quartararo has elected to pen a new deal to remain with Yamaha through the 2025 season, placing his faith in the side’s recovery attempt.
Yamaha has used MotoGP’s concession rulings between race weekends to introduce new developments and parts, including a new engine prior to the summer break.
With Yamaha fielding four bikes on the grid in 2025 with Pramac moving over from a Ducati deal, Team Director Massimo Meregalli thinks things are looking upwards.
“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.
“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.”
Pressed on how Yamaha would describe its current situation and if the outfit can see light at the end of the tunnel, to which he responded with: “Oh, no [we are not there yet]. We are maybe in the middle [of the tunnel]. We start seeing the light.”
Meregalli highlighted that the bike’s major weaknesses at the present time are electronics and the weight of the bike, stating it is something the team are looking into.
“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.”
