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There is nothing more ruthless and truthful about the numbers to describe the situation in which Honda and Yamaha find themselves. As the 2024 MotoGp season has turned the halfway mark, the two Japanese manufacturers continue to navigate very rough waters. In the first 10 GPs of the year Yamaha has scraped together just 53 points, Honda even fewer with 26. Even if we exclude the impregnable Ducati (leading the manufacturers' standings with 352 points), Aprilia (at 192) and KTM (at 178) are also uncatchable.
This is the year in which concessions were brought into force, a measure decided precisely to help the motorcycles of the Rising Sun due to their poor results, but so far they have not yielded the desired outcome. It was impossible to expect otherwise, because help from the regulations is not a magic formula that can solve every problem overnight. Especially when the troubles have been stagnating for some time and a revolution is needed to solve them.
The reason is well known: the Japanese manufacturers in recent years have been unable to innovate or even understand the direction in which MotoGP was going. Aerodynamics and lowering devices were introduced and developed by Europeans, while Honda and Yamaha did not understand how important they were, limiting themselves to copying existing solutions, often with dubious results. Historically, they know how to do engines well in Tokyo and chassis well in Iwata, but that is no longer sufficient. The result is in the table you see below, which shows the gap in qualifying, Sprint and race of the best Honda and Yamaha rider to the fastest.
Gaps that are measured by the hourglass rather than the stopwatch, with the Hondas never even making it into Q2 in any GP this 2024 (unlike Yamaha). The points, however, are awarded in the race, and here again the situation is embarrassing. In a MotoGP that is played out on the edge of tenths, gaps are measured in tens of seconds, even in short races.
The biggest red flag, though, is that they are basically not shrinking. It's not that the RC213V and M1 haven't improved, but their rivals have done the same. That's the problem for the chasing manufacturers: they have to not only reduce the current gap, but also the gap that the best will create in their progression. One step forward is not enough; two if not three are needed.
Easy to say, hard to do.Yamaha is working on it by opening up to external and very Italian collaborations. First came the one with Marmorini for the engine, then the one with Dallara for aerodynamics, and finally the hiring of Massimo Bartolini. The idea is to Italianize the Japanese method, exploiting the merits of both worlds. Logically, it takes time, and Yamaha's situation does not help speed up the process because it has only two riders on the track and, for some time, not even a test rider. Cal Crutchlow, in fact, has not been seen since the hand injury suffered in May. He did not participate in the wild card races scheduled at Mugello and Silverstone (in the latter he was replaced by Remy Gardner) and has not tested since. The factory riders can do it thanks to concessions, but even Rins is not in perfect shape and Quartararo cannot shoulder all the work himself.
Things are set to change in 2025, with the arrival of Pramac as a satellite team that will allow for a doubling of the number of riders. However, it will also be necessary to find a tester, fast and experienced.
That is what Honda has done by hiring Aleix Espargarò. A good move, but certainly not decisive. Of the two Japanese manufacturers, the Tokyo one has seemed the most reluctant to open up to external collaborations. So since the beginning of the year the pits have been invaded by armies of young engineers, but the results have yet to be seen. A lot of development has emerged, however, most of the innovations have failed. According to the riders, it is the aerodynamics that is the weak point of the RC213V, a bike that keeps being modified so much that riders seem to be losing their bearings.
For Honda, as for Yamaha, a direction needs to be found. In 2027 everything will change with the new bikes, but there are still two (and a half) years left to race and they simply cannot continue like this.
