After the winter tests in Sepang and Mandalika, Yamaha team manager Massimo Meregalli says the 2022 M1 has a good basis, but …
With the 2022 Yamaha M1, MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo has finished the last tests before the 2022 season opener in second place. But there can be no talk of euphoria, quite the contrary.
“It will be a really difficult season for sure,” Yamaha team manager Massimo Meregalli told us after the last day of testing, which took place on Sunday in Mandalika (Indonesia).
“We didn’t undertake a revolution, we simply brought updates,” Meregalli describes the philosophy followed for the 2022 Yamaha. The bike has “a good basis”. But whether that alone will be enough against the competition from Ducati, Honda and Co. is something that even Yamaha itself has its doubts about.
“The positive thing is that we were able to actually evaluate all the material we prepared in the winter,” says Meregalli and admits that there had been concerns, especially in Mandalika. The reason was initially the weather forecast, which expected some rain. When this largely failed to materialise, it was the extremely dirty track, especially at the beginning of the three days of testing, that caused concern.
“The first day was a disaster, but then the conditions gradually improved and we were able to evaluate all the parts,” says the Yamaha team manager, speaking of “a step forward” compared to the Sepang test, which took place at the beginning of February.
Nevertheless: “We really expect a very difficult season,” Meregalli underlines. The Achilles’ heel for Yamaha is and remains top speed. At both the Sepang test and the Mandalika test, the M1 was regularly eight to ten km/h slower than the Ducati Desmosedici GP22. And this despite the fact that there are no excessively long straights at Mandalika.
Meregalli already has a premonition for the season in this respect. He makes a telling reference to the tight performance density in the 2022 MotoGP field by saying: “For those who follow the races from the sofa, it will certainly be very interesting. But that won’t necessarily be the case for us. The atmosphere in the pits will certainly be tense.”
Whether defending champion Quartararo will remain with the Yamaha team beyond the 2022 season is something the coming months will have to show. On the part of Yamaha, a contract extension with the Frenchman has the “highest priority”, as Meregalli had already made clear on the sidelines of the Sepang test. It remains to be seen whether Quartararo feels the same way.
