Yamaha’s 2024 MotoGP season featured constant development work on the M1. According to team director Massimo Meregalli, the hard work from Aragon onwards was slowly paying off.
In the 2024 MotoGP season, Yamaha worked hard to improve the M1 and reduce the gap to the European manufacturers, especially Ducati. Factory driver duo Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins did most of the testing work over the race weekend. Yamaha continued to introduce new parts such as chassis and different engine variants or aerodynamics modifications. From the second half of the season onwards, the development work was seen gradually, which was reflected in consistent results, especially from Quartararo.
“It was definitely the longest season ever. But I think it’s good how we all committed ourselves this season, we didn’t give up,” emphasized Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli in an interview with motogp.com. “We saw the first results of our work, especially after Aragon. That was important because when you work hard and don’t see results, it gets harder. From Aragon onwards we saw the light at the end of the tunnel and were able to maintain the improved level. The aerodynamics engineers worked hard and the drivers started to understand how the new aerodynamics worked and how it would benefit them.”
Quartararo regularly made it into Qualifying 2 race weekends in the second half of the season and was able to secure several top 10 results. “Fabio is putting a lot of effort into himself and is trying to adapt,” Meregalli praised the 2021 world champion. Things did not go well for his teammate Rins – his season was hampered by injuries. At least the Spaniard managed two top 10 results in Aragon and Sepang.
“When he came to us, he wasn’t 100 percent, he had ups and downs. Then he had another accident in Assen where he broke his arm. For me, he was never in a condition to give 100 percent, even if he always tried,” Meregalli said. “At the end of the season he got better and better. For us this is very important because being alone and fighting with all the others who have many riders on the track is a big loss. If Alex is in good shape, we have two drivers with whom we can evaluate the information with them. This is very important for next year when we compete with four riders – it will give us a significant advantage.”
