Yamaha Qatar Test Bikes

Again, the riders are having mixed experience.

Rossi, the old guard, thinks the 2021 bike is having rear grip issues that are very similar to the 2020 bike. He's hoping the data a setup changes will improve this. Unfortunately, we've been hearing this for the last 2yrs, so I'm not holding my breath for any breakthroughs.

FQ is his usual young and enthusiastic self. He's feeling good but that's in Qatar. He doesn't seem to have the ability to extrapolate how the bike will behave at other circuits.

MV is not at all happy that they are testing at a track that typically suits the Yamaha and that if they run well, they may develop a false sense of security.

I think this season will be more of the same for Yamaha. I hope that I'm proven wrong.

While it is just testing, I'm going to say it here: Rossi is finished as anything beyond a midfield rider who moves up positions when things go wrong for others.

The excuses are already being trotted out in various corners from his apoplectic fanbase that refuses to acknowledge that the bell is finally tolling on Rossi. I don't know of any grand prix rider with any significant amount of success past or present who would have been okay toiling away in the middle of the field hoping for a few lucky breaks to go their way each grand prix. Yet the bar for Rossi has been slowly lowered each successive season since 2015 in an attempt to justify why exactly he has a seat still instead of some other younger, hungrier rider with something to prove.

Is the M1 a perfect bike?

Absolutely not.

But in terms of overall balance, it's a pretty good bike. It did win 7 races last year even if the world title was secured by Joan Mir on the Suzuki.

While the bike could use more refinement, I think the issue is that 3 of the riders aren't adaptable enough to how to handle the weaker points of the M1. Morbidelli impressed me quite a bit on it by just getting on with it best as he could and racking up wins in the process. It's nowhere near as much of a handful as the RC213V has been for a number of seasons where the only answer appeared to be to brake later and later to make up time...and the Desmo is what it is. The odds of having a bike that is perfectly suited to every single circuit and condition seen across the course of a full season are slim. Which is where rider ability or lack thereof comes into play. Vinales and Fabio are quite fast when everything behaves/performs to their strengths with the machine, but if they can't use their A game, they immediately struggle to figure out how to adapt to whatever they are being presented with. Adapting is by no means an easy thing to do, and the adaptability we saw out of MM prior to his crash last July is the kind of stuff only select few riders in history have ever had.

I believe the base for the M1 is fine, but can always use further refinement or new parts to try and address issues that the riders experience on track. The riders themselves are inconsistent and don't have the full-scale adaptability that might let them achieve better results when things are not tailormade to their liking on any given grand prix weekend.

It seems like the Yamaha factory feel that the 2019 bike is their best bike.

You gotta remember that Morbidelli is riding a 2019 bike this year as he did last year. Quartaro, earned his current reputation with that 2019 bike and he continues to sing its praises while not doing so for the 2020 or 2021 bike.