Yamaha 'saw light' at the end of “longest season ever” in MotoGP

Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli says the struggling Japanese manufacturer “started seeing some light” after the 2024 MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix amid “the longest season ever”.

Having slumped down the order in 2023 from being title contenders the year before to occasional podium finishers, 2024 proved to be Yamaha’s lowest point in the modern MotoGP era.

It failed to score a single podium for the first time in the four-stroke era, while it managed just 124 points in the constructors’ championship compared to the 196 it achieved in 2023.

But Meregalli believes Yamaha from the Aragon GP has started to turn things around.

That holds some merit when taking into account Yamaha’s best grand prix result of the year coming in the penultimate round of the calendar in Malaysia, when Fabio Quartararo rode to a strong sixth place on the M1.

“For sure it has been the longest season ever, but I really like the effort that all of us put in this season,” Meregalli told MotoGP’s official website.

“We never gave up, especially after Aragon we started seeing some results of this work that we have been doing up until then.

“It’s rewarding because when you work hard and you don’t see any results, things become even more heavy and tough to handle.

“But, starting from Aragon we started seeing some light that we could also maintain.

“Mainly, I have to say, the aerodynamics engineers really worked hard and the riders really started understanding how the aerodynamics worked when we did it back-to-back.

“So, when we went back to the first steps of aerodynamics they really understood the benefit of the latest aerodynamics.”

Despite its lack of results, Yamaha has looked like a manufacturer strengthening itself in 2024.

It managed to secure 2021 world champion Quartararo to a new two-year contract, while also extending Alex Rins to the end of 2026.

Yamaha snared teams’ world champions Pramac from Ducati as a satellite partner for 2025, while new technical boss Max Bartolini has been able to get the Japanese brand to alter its approach to development.

This has been made most clear by the revelation that Yamaha is working on a V4 for the first time.

Reflecting on 2024 further, Meregalli heaped praise on Quartararo.

“Fabio is one of the guys who puts a lot of effort in and also he tried to adapt himself,” he added.

“When you have to change the way you have to ride the bike, it is not easy.”