MotoGP: Alex Rins Reveals Yamaha's 'Hard Reality' At Motegi

Saajan Jogia | Oct 7, 2024

Apr 12, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Alex Rins (42) of Spain and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Alex Rins has addressed the "hard reality" surrounding Yamaha's struggles with its MotoGP bike, the YZR-M1, highlighting significant issues with tire management. He revealed that he experienced wheel spin while exiting corners, even when the bike was upright. Rins lamented that the "result from Misano" did not accurately reflect the bike's true performance.

All three Yamaha riders, including Rins, struggled with rear grip throughout the MotoGP race weekend. Although he didn’t face the fuel issues that plagued his teammate Fabio Quartararo, Rins still encountered significant challenges, ultimately finishing 16th, 40.1 seconds behind race winner Francesco Bagnaia.

The Spaniard acknowledged that the early stages of the race went well, but only until the tires started to wear down. Once that happened, he experienced excessive wheel spin on his Yamaha, leading him to express his dissatisfaction with the bike's performance. He emphasized the need for improvements, indicating that he was not pleased with the team's current development efforts. Speaking to the media, he said:

“Really tough race. I don't know what to say. I'm devastated, doing all the laps at 190 heart rate, giving my maximum for this, it was so difficult.

“The first part of the race was not bad. We started today with the setup from Austria to see if on the braking side we were able to improve. If we were able to have more rear contact.

“And more or less it was a little bit better. I was able to feel a bit better the bike. But then as soon as the tyre dropped, it was almost impossible to control the spin.

“Even on the straight, exiting from corner 9, corner 10, I was spinning with the bike [upright]. So the tyre was a little bit flat on the centre.

“I don't know what to say. We need to find something because for sure it's not the way. I'm not happy with the work that we are doing.”

While Quartararo was on course to secure the fifth position until he ran out of fuel in Misano, Rins suggested that the situation at Motegi accurately depicts Yamaha's current reality. He added:

“For me, Misano for Fabio is like Austin for me.

“He was super fast there… also we did a test, race, test, another race.

“So for me the result from Misano was not real.

“The reality right now is - putting [aside] the Ducatis, Aprilias and KTMs - Nakagami [soft rear] was much faster than Fabio and Zarco in the last laps.

“And when Marini overtook me, I was not able to follow him.

“So this is the reality.  The hard reality.”