Developing a MotoGP bike is a complex process. After a component is produced, it needs to be tested before it reaches the races, both in the factory and on track with test riders.
Alex Barros, who competed in the premier class until 2007, and despite this being more than a decade and a half ago, is very familiar with the processes. The Brazilian explained this to a podcast from Motorsport.com Brazil:
– At each race, new things arrive. […]. When you have four riders on track, that’s four sets of information. You get to a weekend, there are four hours of practice and the race. Then, they give an exhaust, a suspension piece, or an electronics package to one rider; for another rider, they give a chassis piece, a linkage, a different tyre. And the riders test them. When there is a signal that something is good, that piece is passed to another rider to check if the opinion is really the same. If it works, it becomes an official part and is added to the bike.
The former rider continued: ‘If it’s something that could break, it goes through endurance testing. Then it’s put on track by the test rider; the test rider confirms it really works. Once it’s proven with the test rider, it goes to the official team – or even the satellite team. But sometimes there are so many parts that two riders can’t keep up. […]. Ducati had eight [riders], they tested everything. […]. They had four 2024 bikes, the others were from 2023 and were different. But they had four bikes! So, four riders testing parts against two’.
Regarding Yamaha, which will have a satellite team in 2025, Barros sees this as a significant advantage: ‘Yamaha had this shortage of human resources, of riders, to accelerate development. Now, they have four riders again. This is extremely important’.