The year 2024 will certainly be one of extreme importance for Yamaha in MotoGP. Still without a satellite team, and with a bike clearly lacking competitiveness compared to the best bike on the grid, and with Fabio Quartararo already showing great concern about the future of the M1 in terms of what it can bring to compete with opponents on the track, this year promises to be decisive.
Looking at their riders, on one hand, Álex Rins will be making his debut with an M1, after a year with the RC213V – where he even managed to win a race, the only one for Honda in 2023, with LCR – and on the other hand, former world champion and main reference of the team, Fabio Quartararo.
Since 2022, the Frenchman has complained about the lack of competitiveness of the M1 compared to the others, and the results on the track, although occasionally positive, have not gone beyond that, with victories still far away.
The tests in Valencia showed a bit of what the character of the M1 could be in 2024, but Quartararo showed enthusiasm on one hand, although on the other hand, not so much considering the many problems that still need to be solved. He has a contract until the end of the year, and the Japanese manufacturer will necessarily have to present a bike capable of convincing #20 to stay in the team, which does not seem easy when there are… eight Desmosedicis on the track, not forgetting that Quartararo has already been linked to a place in a Ducati team for 2025.
Although Ducati does not provide everyone with the GP24, the truth is that the GP23 has enough performance to still be a reference, just ask Marc Márquez, who performed well in the first test with Gresini Racing right at the end of the season at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.
There is still the issue of the satellite team, which Yamaha has been orphaned since RNF Racing, now Trackhouse Racing, accepted to become a customer of Aprilia.
There has been much talk, including the possibility of Valentino Rossi’s team, Pertamina Enduro VR46 MotoGP Team, becoming a Yamaha satellite team in 2025, as their contract with Ducati ends at the end of the season. But even then, it is worth considering this possibility: will the structure be willing to let go of the Desmosedici, which has brought many joys to the team of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, and continue with the M1? The future is unknown, but perhaps Yamaha will have to show “something more” for that.
Rins may even lead the team to victories, as he did in 2023 with LCR Honda, on a bike that is far from being the most competitive, and Quartararo is always a rider to consider. But the future, nobody knows, although there are some certainties: 2024 will be almost a “all or nothing” year for Yamaha in MotoGP.
