Yamaha Hits New MotoGP Low as All Four Riders Slam Bike at Austrian GP

A FRUITLESS WEEKEND

Yamaha's long-term MotoGP struggles reached another low point at the Austrian Grand Prix, with all four of its riders slamming the M1 package after a weekend in which neither the factory team nor satellite outfit Pramac managed to score a single point, the first time that has happened all season. The Red Bull Ring has been a difficult track for Yamaha since its return to the calendar in 2016, but this result went further, with the four Yamahas posting times so close to last year's race that they were nearly matched despite having an entirely new bike and V4 engine. Pramac's Jack Miller compared his 1m38s pace to "f******g Baggers times."

Fabio Quartararo, who qualified ninth, slipped to 17th in the race but was still the best-placed Yamaha, with his three stablemates filling positions 19 through 21.

GRIP, WHEELSPIN AND TYRE WEAR

Multiple riders pointed to the reinforced tyre Michelin brought to Austria, which exposed Yamaha's lack of grip, wheelspin on acceleration and heavy tyre wear by race end. Pramac's Toprak Razgatlioglu said he was "really angry on the bike," calling the weekend the "second-worst race in my life" after this year's Thailand opener. "Today, I expected more, but in the beginning, no grip. If the bike has no grip, the bike has no acceleration," he said. "In the end, last six laps, I thought to myself, 'How is it possible I finish the race?' Because on the straight, the bike just spins."

Miller, who experienced similar issues in Thailand when Michelin used the same hard-cased tyre, said the problem went beyond the rubber: "We're not able to transfer that weight smoothly, so any sort of sharp input or whatever you have on this tyre, it upsets it, and then it creates spin. And once the thing starts spinning, it doesn't f******g recover... We could have 40bhp more, but we're not going to be able to use it cause we're going to spin, especially with this casing." By race end, Miller had only a thin strip of rubber left on the middle of his rear tyre, while Quartararo said his closing laps resembled the pace of Moto2 race winner Izan Guevara.

A RIFT AND A RARE LAUGH

Given Quartararo's known tension with Yamaha, he was notably less inclined to blame the tyre alone, though he acknowledged its impact: "I knew already, like in the sprint, my tyre was destroyed at the end... I think my last laps were like Guevara at the end. We struggle a lot; we spin. The amount of spin that we have was big."

Teammate Alex Rins found some levity in the weekend while trying to hold off VR46 Ducati's Franco Morbidelli, who was running six tenths a lap faster. "It was quite funny because our pace was really bad compared to the others, in general," Rins said. "When I saw in the pitboard that Morbidelli was catching me... I just turned around and made a wave-past gesture like this because we don't need to lose time fighting when another rider catches you like this... He left me."

WHY IT MATTERS

A scoreless weekend for both Yamaha entries underlines how far the manufacturer remains from the front of the field even with a redesigned bike and engine, adding pressure heading into the remaining rounds as rivals like KTM and Aprilia continue to close in on the championship fight.