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Earlier today, the Monster Energy Yamaha team officially kicked off its season, unveiling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the livery that will dress its M1s in 2025. It will be an important year for the Iwata-based manufacturer as much as for Alex Rins, who is looking forward to putting behind him the difficulties he encountered in his debut year on the Japanese four-cylinder bike and resume his push to return to the top as soon as possible.
Alex, how do you start this 2025?
"Honestly, I am very happy to be able to start as early as tomorrow. Yamaha has been working so much this winter, and we will also have two more riders to help us develop the bike. We have so many things to try in these winter tests: the frame, the swingarm, the engine, the aerodynamics. I am happy, because I am in one of my best moments."
When you walk you can tell you're still limping a bit. How do you feel physically? Are you the Alex of a few years ago?
"I am the same Alex who came into the World Championship in 2012, but with more experience. Physically I feel great, it's true that I still limp a little bit, but it depends on the fixators they put in my leg for the 2023 injury. Honestly, I can do everything, I feel very strong and I'm training a lot at home. I can't run, but that is something I don't like to do. So, it's not a problem. I'm very strong physically and mentally."
Last year Yamaha began a revolution, with the arrival of Bartolini and the Pramac team. There is an air of change, as the name of this presentation also emphasizes. How confident are you? What did you see that convinced you to stay?
"I am 100 percent confident, otherwise I would not have stayed. I saw that they want to win, that's the important thing, also because I also want to win. The goal this year is to build a better bike than last year and one that can win. What I have seen this winter in Yamaha gives me the confidence to be at 200 percent."
There is also a new bike coming out at Yamaha with a V4 engine. What do you expect from that bike and when do you hope to ride it the first time?
"That is a difficult question, because as Bartolini said, it is still an immature project and as far as I know it has not been put on the track yet. The important thing is that we have a lot of new material to test for the current bike, the one I'm sitting on now. The other bike, they have to build it, they have to try it Dovizioso, Augusto Fernandez, and Crutchlow, and when it is better than this one, Fabio and I will push to try it."
Everyone else now has a V4 engine. Is this the only way forward?
"Everyone else is on the V4, but to put things on the scales, Ducati has the V4 and is very strong, while Honda, with the V4, is at about the same level as us. What I am saying is that we have to stay calm and build a bike that works well. As I said, the current goal is to make a better bike than the previous one, and when the one with the V4 is better than this one, we will ride it."
What can Dovizioso bring to the Yamaha project?
"Honestly it gives me goosebumps to have him with us, because Dovizioso is a point of reference for me. I have battled with him, I see him as a very talented rider and I like that he is part of the project, because he has ridden so many bikes and he is incredibly talented. I am especially happy to have him on the team."
How hard is it to find motivation at times like this? Because you start the season with the aim of improving and not to win the title, given how you finished 2024.
"Honestly, I work a lot at home. I've been working with a psychologist for many years in the mental aspect. It's very hard work to do, but I'm 100 percent motivated and I have the perfect mindset to develop the bike and get back to winning. It's true that I can't say the goal now is to win, because we don't have the bike to do it. But I am convinced that we will get there."
Do you also see the fight for this World Championship as a private matter between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia, or not?
"Normally the rider who won the previous year is a contender for the title. In this case it is a little different, because Martin went to Aprilia and for me it will be the Ducati the bike to fight for the World title. Between Marquez and Pecco it will be a good fight."
