michaelm

Particularly given MM lost a season to an injury which still may present some threat to his career because he felt the need to prove something to FQ at the start of the season.

I tend to believe Valentino that Yamaha took a wrong step with the 2020 factory bike which seemed to have a very narrow window of operation in concert with this year’s tires, and the necessity to de-tune the engine or whatever after the engine failures I am sure didn’’t help. Vinales and Valentino pretty much paralleled FQ as the season progressed, while Morbidelli prospered on the 2019 bike. I don’t know at what stage Jorge had input as a test rider, but it is perhaps understandable they have replaced him.

MichaelBolton

Jorge only did 2 tests with the 2019 bike. Difficult for him to have a say in 2020's bike, specially when it was already designed before JL99 went to the Sepang tests

Bern1

That is indeed ironic that FQ’s season ended up as it did with all the effort MM put in to psyching him out at the start. Somewhere in the back of my mind lurks the suspicion that, had Yamaha not balled up this year’s bike, FQ would have indeed gone on to more wins. As it is, he obviously couldn’t stand the pressure and caved mentally to both his and the bike’s failings. We’ll see next year if he recovers and gets the trajectory upwardly mobile again. And whether his racecraft improves to where he is on par with Mir, Morbidelli and whoever else steps it up.

Gonna be fun to watch!

Bern1

I believe that is probably true. But I also think the beef with JL might have been his perceived lack of commitment and preparation, especially with the factory not giving him an early meaningful role, which didn’t help. In any case, I just can’t see him carrying on in the capacity of a test rider, any more than I could see Stoner doing it either, or Lawson, Rainey or Doohan. It just doesn’t seem right for multi world champions to be out testing bikes....

michaelm

I agree about riders of that stature being test riders.

I am a Jorge fan as you no doubt know, and it is sad imo how his career has ended with a whimper rather than a bang, and that he seems likely to continue to be estranged from the equipe for which he won 3 premier class titles. I guess we will see, Eddie Lawson’s career trajectory was not dissimilar and he was eventually rehabilitated into being a Yamaha icon.

michaelm

Thanks, I didn’t know what Jorge’s role had been, just saw that Crutchlow was replacing him in a Yamaha testing role next season.

The 2019 bike Morbidelli rode may in fact have retained some vestiges of his input when he was last a Yamaha factory rider.

p4p1

Totally agree, he (and everyone else) saw Fabio as the air apparent despite little proof (IMO) that he was there yet.

Cutter

I’ve had better luck this year betting on the stock market than the MotoGP

Cutter

Why did they announce Mir as the winner before Portugal? How many of you guys ride track IRL?

JPSLotus

This also brings up another problem the sport is currently facing. In their haste to set a lineup for the following season(s) teams are signing riders increasingly early. It begs the question of whether or not Yamaha would have put FQ in the factory team if they saw that he's no more consistent than Vinales? I don't think they would have, and if they could have known how the season would unfold, I'm sure Morbidelli would have gotten that seat instead. But, that's not the case, and I think Morbidelli benefits from this because he gets another year at SRT and can continue developing further with a little less spotlight and expectation that comes from being on the factory team. I do think irrespective of how next season plays out, Vinales will be gone at the year's end. Not sure how long FQ will last there, but I have a feeling he's just Vinales 2.0. Very fast when everything is working perfectly or close to it, ordinary or less when it's not. You really have to wonder how Lin Jarvis still has a job given ever since they let Lorenzo walk because they actually believed he and Rossi should be equals, it's been nothing but one calamity after the next mostly for the factory team and their overall bike design. I don't see anything changing next season since the same group of riders are on all of the Yamaha bikes even if two swapped teams.