Yamaha plead for patience - “We are not magicians!”
Massimo Meregalli reacts to a disappointing Qatar MotoGP by insisting that Yamaha require more time
Yamaha have insisted that they need more time to turn around their MotoGP slump, after a drab season-opening race.
The Japanese manufacturer entered 2024 with an air of positivity after the additions of Ducati engineers Massimo Bartolini and Marco Nicotra.
They also had extra preseason testing time as part of the new concessions rule, which will aid their development all year.
But at the Qatar MotoGP last weekend, Fabio Quartararo (11th) was the best-placed Yamaha or Honda rider.
His Yamaha teammate Alex Rins, on his race debut since leaving LCR Honda, was 16th.
"We have changed things, now we really know what we want to do, where we want to go, but it takes time," Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha team boss, was quoted by DAZN.
"We are not magicians.
“We know what needs to be done, and it takes time to get there.”
Quartararo, whose contract expires at the end of this year making him among the most high-profile riders available to rivals, offered a glum reaction to the Qatar MotoGP.
His team boss reacted to his star man’s disappointment with a bluntly honest assessment of Yamaha’s limitations.
“Fabio did what he could for the moment,” Meregalli said.
“We are realistic. We had already seen what we could do here two weeks ago, during testing, when we did the race simulation.
"We already saw the level.
"Of course we are not happy, we are realistic and objective.
“We have listed what we have to do, but it takes time.
"Fabio works well and tries to be calm, he understands the situation.
“Maybe he was very nervous and disappointed at the beginning of last year.
“Now he has realised that this is the situation.”
Quartararo was the 2021 MotoGP champion and only failed to win back-to-back titles on the last day of the 2022 season.
But Yamaha’s downturn started midway through 2022 and worsened severely last year.
Meregalli is bullish that they can return to competitiveness.
"We are progressing, we have improved top speed, aerodynamics, and we have to achieve this to continue progressing,” he said.
“We have a lot of work to do.”
Meregalli reacted to Quartararo finishing 11th and Rins 16th in Qatar: "I am disappointed, yes, but satisfied because we have done what we could.
"We have collected data, we progressed after the sprint race, because we had a degradation problem. It was still happening on Sunday, but less.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
