Augusto Fernandez came in 18th at the end of the Sprint and 14th at the GP checkered flag, ending his Misano weekend as a wild card, where his aim was developing the new Yamaha V4. Despite the fact that there he had positive and encouraging indications, the Spanish rider thinks there are lots of aspects to work on.
"It was a tough race in which everything happened to me like consumption, clutch, and vibration problems in the first phase. It's the first time we've seen the new bike in the race, and it's clearly just the beginning, but it wasn't fun because I had to manage the gasoline from lap ten," he said.
Besides the problems that can be expected from a new project, Augusto said he was convinced it was good. "The V4 certainly has a lot of potential, but the response varies a lot depending on the temperature and the section of track. For example, in some laps, it has good grip and, in the next one, you can't get the pace, so there's a lot to analyze and work on. However, there are positive aspects, only we need to find some more consistency."
Malaysia will be the next useful opportunity for a test in a competitive environment. "Yes, we'll see tomorrow what they say. On the finale, I also improved in terms of fuel consumption, but we still don't know why the bike does well sometimes and at others very badly. Hopefully, we can identify the right direction and find the right balance quickly."
Fuel consumption is the most resounding flaw so far. "I was surprised. You can't even ride with a consistent pace this way. I had to use the most conservative mapping and, even in the straights, I gave up on maximum power. That said, I couldn't quantify our potential, but it's certainly not what we saw here."