Aragon MotoGP weekend also sees Yamaha lagging far behind: the new features on the Yamaha M1 have yet to have a noticeable effect
Little grip and very changeable conditions from session to session made work difficult for the riders and teams at the twelfth Grand Prix weekend in Aragon. The poor grip hit Yamaha particularly hard, as the current M1 is not known for building up much mechanical grip. The innovations from the Misano test, which were used with great hope, showed no recognizable advantages
With a ninth place for Alex Rins, the result doesn’t look too bad on paper. But Rins would not have made it into the top 10 under his own steam. The Spaniard benefited from a number of retirements and penalties. The large gap of almost 40 seconds speaks for itself: Yamaha is still far behind.
“It was impossible to get the bike into a lean angle. We had zero grip,” said Rins, describing the situation in Aragon. “The lack of grip is not helping us. Normally our bike doesn’t build up much grip. The new tarmac, which was dirty, and the lack of rubber on the track made it even worse. It’s a bit frustrating. “
Rins finished Saturday’s sprint in P17, 26 seconds back. To give Rins a better feeling, the crew made some adjustments. Yamaha made a change to the swingarm to give Rins more confidence.
The hoped-for boost did not materialize. “My bike is completely different to the one I rode in Austria. We have new parts with which we achieved good results at the test in Misano. But here we lost a lot at the start of corners, when changing direction and in fast corners,” said Rins with regret.
Fabio Quartararo complains about “terrible grip” in Aragon
Teammate Fabio Quartararo was delighted with P8 in the sprint on Saturday, but did not have a good race on Sunday and retired after a crash. “I was a bit faster and then the front wheel slipped. The grip was terrible all weekend. It was a disaster for us that we weren’t allowed to use the soft rear tire,” commented the Frenchman.
“I was looking for the limit and found it very quickly,” said Quartararo, referring to his crash and lamenting the fact that the grip in the Grand Prix was even worse than on Saturday. The soft rear tire option was not available for Sunday. Quartararo is convinced that he would have survived the race with the soft rear tire.
The two Yamahas of Rins and Quartararo were set up very differently in Aragon. However, the comments from the Yamaha factory duo went in the same direction. The front in particular caused Rins and Quartararo great difficulties. “It was very difficult to turn into the corners,” said Quartararo.
From Aragon, Yamaha will be using a new fairing. Visually, however, the innovation hardly differs from the version used until the Austrian Grand Prix. According to Quartararo, the fairing is narrower. The 2021 World Champion refrained from making a comparison with the old version.
Thanks to the private test in Misano, Yamaha is traveling to Italy with a certain advantage in terms of experience. Next weekend, Rins and Quartararo want to confirm the positive impressions of the test and be closer to the front than at previous Grands Prix.
