Yamaha’s MotoGP preseason showed promise, but once the actual racing began, reality proved quite different. The YZR-M1 struggles to maintain a competitive pace throughout an entire race.
This issue was evident in Thailand and Argentina, where Yamaha riders started within the top ten but suffered significant pace drops later in the race. Alex Barros, speaking to PecinoGP, pointed out that the main issue is excessive tyre wear:
– Yamaha, which seemed like a strong contender in preseason, showed problems during the race. The tire wear is massive. I spoke with Miguel Oliveira […] and he said the bike has an excellent chassis compared to the Aprilia. It turns really well, and it’s almost impossible to crash with it. But it lacks traction and top speed – above fourth gear, it doesn’t keep up with Aprilia or Ducati. He is also struggling with braking, which shouldn’t be the case. If the braking were strong, he could minimize the issue. But this distraction… You can see that from halfway through the race onwards, Yamaha riders drop off significantly. They can’t maintain the pace.
The Brazilian ex-rider emphasized that multiple Yamaha riders are struggling with this issue, making the bike uncompetitive over a full race distance: ‘You see Fabio Quartararo running in fifth or sixth place, but finishing twelfth. The same happens with Jack Miller, despite strong race performances. The tyre wear is just too high. So far, even with improvements, Yamaha doesn’t have race pace. They have a serious problem with tyre degradation’.