Nineteenth at the start, 16th at the finish: Alex Rins gave it his all in the Japanese Grand Prix, not scoring a single point. Despite several retirements during the race. While Fabio Quartararo's mood was not the best after the checkered flag, due to another fuel problem, on the other side of the Yamaha box the situation is certainly no better. On the contrary.
"It was a really tough race, I don't know what to say. I'm devastated, because I did all the laps with a heart rate of 190 beats per minute, to do my maximum and get this," the Catalan rider said distraught, before going into the details of his race: "It was very difficult, because the first part of the race was not bad. I started off using the set-up from Austria to see if it would allow us to improve under braking and keep the rear tire more in contact with the asphalt. Good or bad, it went a little better, because I felt a little better on the bike. But with 10 laps to go, as soon as the tire started to drop, it became impossible to control the wheelspin. Even in the straight and coming out of turns 9 and 10, the bike was sliding when upright. We have to find a solution, because this is not the right way and I am not happy with the work we are doing."
The ultimate proof that Yamaha's four-cylinder has its days numbered?
"We will certainly not introduce the V4 in the last races. If everything goes well maybe we can have it for the middle of next season, but it is a project and we need something sooner, because my top opponent right now is Quartararo, who has the same bike as mine - Rins commented - Fabio was definitely faster than me this weekend, but in the first phase of the race I was much closer than in the Sprint. However, when the tire then deteriorated, my race was over. All three Yamahas were struggling with the same problems, although maybe Fabio here was able to keep the rear more in contact under braking, or he had a better setup than I did, since he has been riding this bike for so many years. Either way, I don't want to make excuses: he was simply faster than Gardner and me."
In view of the fine performance shown by El Diablo at Misano, a question can only arise: what is the most accurate representation of the current level of the M1?
"In my opinion Misano for Fabio is a bit like Austin for me: he won the title there and was very fast," Alex remarked, "It may be his favorite track, but it is also true that we had a race there, then a test and another race, so for me the Misano result was not real at all.The harsh reality is that when Marini passed me, I was not able to follow him."
Unlike his teammate, the Spanish rider had no problems with fuel consumption in Motegi, but he still photographs a situation at Yamaha that is far from rosy.
"Problems with fuel? No, I just did a saving lap by pulling the clutch on the straight, to save some fuel," he concluded, "We are going through a critical moment. Not because we are not working, we are, but it is frustrating to see how you give everything and things fail. I average a heart rate of 190 beats per minute per race, to finish last at 40 seconds. So it's complicated, but we're giving everything and we have to be patient. Can electronics be the key? I don't know. We can't find what we're missing."