Yamaha: COTA “confirmed” M1 improvement, “build on this base” in Qatar

Monster Yamaha arrives in Qatar aiming to build on signs of progress at the Circuit of the Americas, where Fabio Quartararo delivered a season-best sixth in the Sprint - the top non-Ducati finisher.

Sunday’s chaos then left the Frenchman tenth on a ‘hybrid’ bike, but Pramac’s Jack Miller flew the Yamaha flag with fifth place.

That again made Yamaha next-best behind Ducati, as Miller also took the M1’s best GP result since 2023.

"In Doha, we can pick up where we left off in COTA in terms of performance, which was actually quite decent,” said Monster Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli.

“Without the sighting-lap crash and the other mishaps [for Quartararo], we would have been able to get a better result.”

Quartararo and Yamaha will now hope the revised bike set-up will deliver at Lusail, where the Frenchman expects hot temperatures and a ‘long’ main race.

"Lusail was usually the first track [of the season] but this year the order changed. Because of this, it feels like we haven't been here in a long time, also because we had no test here in the pre-season,” Quartararo said.

“We know that we can expect higher temperatures than during last year's GP, because this time we are visiting in April. I expect it will be a hot GP weekend and a long race, but I'm looking forward to it.

“We didn't get the results we wanted in Austin, but we did see some positives, especially in the Sprint. So, I'm looking forward to trying again this weekend, though I know the competition will be tough."

Team-mate Alex Rins is still seeking a top ten finish, claiming eleventh in the last two GPs.

"We are still in the process of finding the ideal set-up,” he admitted. “We'll keep working on that, starting from where we left off in Austin.

“Qatar will be a high-[tyre]degradation track, so we'll need to keep an eye on that, but I'm ready and motivated to keep working on it."

COTA "confirmed the improvement"

Meregalli is confident that Yamaha now has a base to build upon as it seeks to rise from fifth and last in the constructors’ standings.

“The Americas GP has confirmed the improvement of the performance of the M1. So, we are starting the Qatar GP motivated to build on this base,” he said.

“The Lusail track is not bad for the characteristics of our bike, so we think we can continue the trend."

Yamaha starts Qatar five points behind Aprilia in the constructors' standings, six from KTM and eight points from Honda. 

However, Ducati, unbeaten in a Grand Prix for over one year, is already a massive 75 points clear of Honda.

Yamaha is the most successful manufacturer at Lusail with 10 MotoGP wins for four riders: Valentino Rossi (2005, 2006, 2010, 2015), Jorge Lorenzo (2012, 2013, 2016), Maverick Viñales (2017, 2021/1) and Fabio Quartararo (2021/2).