Japanese constructors are in an unprecedented crisis of results in MotoGP – with Europeans taking a dominant position. Ducati hadn’t won rider titles since 2007 with Casey Stoner and saw its riders dominate in 2023 – after returning to champion riders with Francesco Bagnaia the previous year. And the other two European manufacturers, Aprilia and KTM, finally managed to enter the fight for top positions.
Cal Crutchlow has been a Yamaha test rider since 2020 and emphasized on the OMG! MotoGP podcast that he believes in the recovery of the Iwata constructor:
– When I sit down with Yamaha and talk to them, I always say: we will turn things around. How many years were the European constructors nowhere? We saw Ducati go from winning the championship with Casey to basically being nowhere for years. And they still hadn’t won until Pecco won two years ago. Aprilia is strong, KTM is really strong, and unfortunately it’s Yamaha and Honda that are struggling right now. But that’s how racing is. It will turn around and they will become competitive again. When? I don’t know.
One help comes from the concessions system introduced this year, and Crutchlow already feels that help: ‘I think the concessions and the way we can test and do some more things are helping. And Yamaha this year… I saw a huge change in mentality in how much they are trying, but you can’t change things overnight. It’s not a thing. Like we know what the problem is. But the problem has been the same for the last three years, and I said for the last three years, but making them change was very, very difficult‘.
The British added: ‘Now that Max [Bartolini] has joined, I think… they have really grasped the situation and seem to be looking at all areas, and I believe it’s just a matter of time before they become much stronger than they are now‘.
