Yamaha needs to make significant improvements to its competitiveness in MotoGP in 2024, as it is a decisive season to be able to keep Fabio Quartararo – who is at the end of his contract. The team manager, Massimo Meregalli, admitted that the initial development of the bike was more traditional, but promised evolutions throughout the year.
The Italian explained to GPOne.com that the Iwata constructor was somewhat conservative: ‘We are only at the beginning. Among the various constructors, we were the ones who were a little more traditional: we introduced a new wing, lower diffusers, different spoilers at the rear, but we have not taken any risks yet. However, the direction is the same, you have to try to make the bike turn using aerodynamics while trying not to penalize drag too much‘.
As Yamaha can develop the bike more thanks to concessions, Meregalli revealed that in May there should be a new version of the YZR-M1: ‘We will try to take advantage of the concessions that allow us to introduce two evolutions during the season. We should introduce the first one at the GP in Mugello‘.
