2020 was a weird year for MotoGP. After the initial wave of COVID-19 hit and a number of races were cancelled or postponed, it was unclear if we would even get a season of racing at all. Thankfully we were still able to have a championship with fourteen races, though it was incredibly compressed and limited to European tracks, but all things considered it’s kind of amazing we were able to get even that to happen. As a viewer and a long time follower of the sport, I’m incredibly grateful we had such a good year of MotoGP in the face of so many difficulties.
The compressed nature of the 2020 season did create some odd scenarios, though. With the championship constantly swinging and changing, and with no clear favourites for the majority of the year, it was difficult to focus on smaller stories popping up within the paddock. Even when some larger events were occurring, they could be overlooked by the time the next weekend came around as the news cycle continued to churn and replace itself.
One such story that feels like it was somewhat lost in the mix was that of Yamaha’s engine woes. Yamaha struggled with technical difficulties from the very first round, with Vinales churning through so many of his available engines that he was forced to take a pitlane start later in the year, and multiple instances of their riders being forced out of races prematurely thanks to internal failures. Then there’s the fact that Vinales’ brakes failed him in the second race in Austria, causing him to bail off the bike at high speeds while it careered into the air fence. All told, Yamaha were plagued with issues when it came to their 2020 model.
It’s easy to look at their results and say that they had a strong season regardless, but that feels like a falsehood as well. Sure, Yamaha riders took a combined seven wins throughout the year – half of all races in 2020 – and they had an incredible qualifying record, consistently putting riders on the front two rows of the grid, but their inconsistency was their major downfall. Despite taking three wins during the season, Quartararo failed to make the podium in any of the remaining eleven races. Vinales continued to struggle with his race starts and was constantly forced to fight through the mid-pack. Rossi, even without the races he missed due to COVID-19, had one of his worst seasons on record.
The only real saving grace for Yamaha all year was Franco Morbidelli. After a modest first year with the Japanese manufacturer in 2019, the Italian and VR46 Academy graduate had a fantastic season, taking three wins and five podiums en route to second place in the championship standings. If the opening rounds of his season hadn’t been so inconsistent, he may have actually had a chance at challenging Mir for the title in the later stages of the year. It was truly a fantastic performance by the former Moto2 champion, made sweeter by the fact that he was riding on an older model of the bike than his Yamaha stablemates.
Which should raise alarm bells for the manufacturer. The fact that their most successful rider of 2020 was riding a B-spec bike and was able to consistently beat the riders on the factory model should be cause for major concern amongst Yamaha management, especially since their bikes will remain mostly the same in 2021 thanks to the COVID-imposed engine freeze. If the constant work and tireless hours they put into their primary machines isn’t stopping them from being soundly beaten by what is essentially the 2019 model, then that speaks volumes to the struggles they must be having with their designs.
Which brings us to this year, and pre-season testing. The Yamahas have all looked quick during the tests in Qatar, and Quartararo, Morbidelli and Vinales all finished the test within the top ten riders. This shouldn’t be a surprise given how strong their one-lap pace was in 2020, but it’s at least promising to see them still in the mix with the other championship contenders. Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be many clear-cut answers to their engine woes presented during the tests, though I suppose we didn’t actually get to see inside the bikes themselves.
Will Yamaha have a better time of it in 2021? They certainly need to, if they want to avoid being swallowed up by the other manufacturers. The competition has reached new levels in recent years, as the gaps between stronger and weaker teams closes and the individual riders become more competitive. Suzuki and Ducati both look strong, Honda has a revised lineup and many lessons learned from 2020, and even KTM has joined the mix of manufacturers with a chance to win a race on any given weekend. There was a time where simply being on a factory Yamaha indicated a strong chance of winning the race, but they are no longer quire so far ahead of the pack.
This is perhaps the crux of the issue here. Yamaha have long been seen as one of the best manufacturers to ride with in MotoGP, and they have a long history of winning to their name, but 2020 was a really tough season for them. They have a standard expected of them, and it seems as though they may have failed to uphold that standard over the course of last season as they struggled to find solutions to all their issues. Inconsistent riders, engine woes, brake failures – this is not the Yamaha we have grown to expect in recent decades.
Sure, Honda also had a woeful season, but their issues stem from their reliance on a single rider to win them championships. With Marc Marquez back in the picture for this year, and with their bike being angled increasingly towards supporting their other riders, the issues Honda have faced look to already be moving behind them. Yamaha, on the other hand, have some big steps to make if they want to challenge for the title this year. They need to fix their bikes, their riders AND their management, and we’re only days away from the first race of the season.
Could a Yamaha rider win the title in 2021? Morbidelli certainly seems to have a chance, and it would be foolish to forget Quartararo and Vinales’ impressive records. If they can find the missing pieces, then it could genuinely be a fantastic season for Yamaha – but they have a long road ahead of them.
Solomon Talks Bikes 