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By now, all the talk in the paddock is about Yamaha's new bike with the V4 engine, the one given to the Iwata manufacturer's test riders a few days ago at Valencia. In two versions: one of 1,000 cc (to be used, if possible, as early as next year) and another of 850 cc (prototype for 2027). Obviously, the men in blue are tight-lipped, so we went to tease technical director Max Bartolini, with an interview of which you can see the video above.
The engineer from Forlì accepted our invitation and responded with marked irony: "do you want to know what the new bike looks like? It looks like the others," he joked.
Between serious and facetious, however, Bartolini spoke seriously about one of the most important projects in Yamaha's history, a real revolution.
"We are in the preliminary stages of development," he explained, " We always talk about the engine, but the most complicated thing is to make the whole bike. The work is going well, we are very far from doing performance tests, but everything is going as planned. As happens with all new bikes, there are always problems in development, but we are aligned in the road map. At certain times, nothing can be taken for granted."
When will Quartararo and Rin be able to test it?
"When our testers positively evaluate the bike and there is performance feedback, at that point we will let the riders try it - was his answer - It is still to be defined. Until we see that the new bike is better performing than the current one, there is no point in diverting the riders from their work."
It's time to roll up the sleeves...
"The effort is great, like the effort Yamaha has put in," Max continued, "Obviously, the projects will have to fade into each other, and that will be the hard part. Before you decide what bike we will race in 2026, you have to see the advantages. On paper we know them, but you have to verify them. Also because now we are more or less half a second from the best, to make a bike that is five tenths faster is very difficult, but to make it go half a second slower you just need a snap of the fingers," he smiled.
He also clarified why Yamaha was embarking on building a bike that - at best - could race for only one year before the rule change.
"Even if we can't by 2026 have the evolution we want, you always have to think that we are a company that has no knowledge on that engine architecture and that type of bike. You cannot start for 2027 with a completely new project, even more so with the tire change, without any kind of experience. In any case, it will be a preparatory project for 2027."
To throw it all away, however, would be a shame. Who knows if an R1 V4 to run in SBK is being considered... "Personally, I would love it and I hope it will be inspirational, but that's all I know," Bartolini threw up his hands, returning to explain how the new Italy-Japan axis is working.
"We are making the structures work more in conjunction, trying to improve communication, and we have strengthened the Italian side. I often go to Japan, as many Japanese people come to Italy. The bulk of the vehicle is done in Japan, but there are parts we build in Europe and others for which we do prototyping in Europe and industrialization in Japan. Yamaha has always been world wide, it has locations everywhere, and this philosophy we want to extend to racing as well."
The last question is whether we will see two different bikes on the track next year: the inline-4 and the V4.
"I don't know, I hope one direction will be taken because racing with two types of bikes is extremely complicated. To go faster, however, we are willing to do anything."
Before taking his leave, Bartolini wanted to give GPOne readers a special gift. He took pen and paper and drew the new Yamaha. You don't believe it? Watch the video above.
