In news that will get Valentino Rossi fans' senses tingling, the seven-time MotoGP/500GP World Champion has hinted Yamaha may be on the cusp of a genuine step forward with its package for the first time since 2016 following a strong start to the San Marino MotoGP on his updated M1.
It’s been a low-key couple of seasons for MotoGP’s largest personality, ‘the Doctor’ struggling to keep up with the likes of Marc Marquez on the Honda, the Ducatis and increasingly Alex Rins’ Suzuki due to what he perceives as a too conservative approach to development by Yamaha.
With Rossi - whose MotoGP victory drought stretches to 31 rounds now - hinting he will call time on his career at the end of 2020 if he doesn’t see a substantial improvement from the manufacturer, Yamaha has subsequently reacted by bringing a new parts to recent tests, plus a ‘first draft’ of the 2020 M1.
Though Rossi’s reaction to next year’s bike has been somewhat cool so far, he was far more effusive about the new parts he received for free practice in Misano today – a carbon fibre swingarm, double exhaust and front-brake disc cover.
"The test after Silverstone was positive for us because we worked very hard, especially on the new stuff and at the end for me it was quite clear that the new stuff is better. So, I decided to concentrate on this”, Rossi is quoted as saying by our sister publication Crash.net.
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Most encouraging for Rossi is the fact it seems Yamaha has demonstrated a willingness and intent to give him what he wants. Many saw the decision to roll out the 2020 bike as a clear ‘audition’ to Rossi that it is listening to both him and Maverick Vinales, even if the less than enthusiastic reaction shows there is much work to be done.
However, it is telling that Yamaha has never previously gone so ‘radical’ in its mid-season updates and while it certainly has little to lose in doing so right now, there is a clear indication that it wants to prove there are the ingredients for a return to prominence.
Indeed, two practice sessions don’t make a victory, but Rossi knows his way around a MotoGP bike more than anyone, so to say this is the first time he has seen a significant improvement since 2016 is not a comment to ignore.
“It's good. It's positive, because it looks like Yamaha work stronger now and in the right direction,"
"For me, from the end of 2016 to the Brno test in reality everything we tested was not clearly better than the old stuff.
"So technically speaking it was a very difficult period and in fact the gap to the other manufacturers increased.
"But now, from the beginning of the season, something changed. We have a lot of different people from Japanese especially but also Europe and it looks like now we start to see the effect.
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However, Rossi does point out that his pace was similar to that of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli riding the ‘standard’ satellite Yamaha M1.
Whereas Morbidelli shares the same 2019 base machinery as Rossi and Vinales, Quartararo – a three-time pole sitter – rides a so-called A- hybrid of the 2018 and 2019 M1.
“It's also true that Quartararo and Franco, who have the normal stuff, are fast. So, it's also the marriage between the bike and the track.
"We have some different configuration, the exhaust, the carbon swingarm, the [thumb] brake but that is already from two or three races. But we have a good feeling."
