Honda and Yamaha are about to make MotoGP history

Last Sunday’s Indonesian Grand Prix was the first time this year that two Japanese motorcycles have finished inside the top ten: Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha in seventh and Johann Zarco’s Honda in ninth, which was, believe it or not, Honda’s first top ten of 2024. There were reasons – lots of crashes and perhaps the special heat-resistant rear slick – but nonetheless Honda and Yamaha riders were talking up their chances for the first time in many months.

For Honda especially the turnaround has been sudden, because Zarco was very downbeat, just three races ago.

“Something needs to work and at the moment we haven’t had any steps and that’s why it’s less and less fun to race, because you know you won’t be able to fight,” said the Frenchman at last month’s San Marino GP.

Both factories have been using MotoGP’s new concession rules (written to get them back in the game and stop them quitting like Suzuki did at the end of 2022) to undertake frequent tests, but apparently with little progress.

Until the post-San Marino tests, where a substantially upgraded RC213V gave Zarco and Repsol riders Joan Mir and Luca Marini some hope. Honda has had the worst downforce for ages, but the new fairing introduced at that test has transformed the bike’s turning ability, because more downforce means more grip, which means better turning.

Zarco finished Sunday’s Indonesian GP 15 seconds behind the winner. Compare that to the second GP of 2024 at Portimao, where he took the chequered flag 38 seconds down. In that same race Mir was Honda’s top finisher, 29 seconds behind the winner. So there’s no doubt that Honda is making progress.

“It is part of the process,” says Marini. “The most important thing is that the bike is growing.

“Since the Misano tests the turning is better with the new fairing, we are faster in the corner-entry phase and we have a new swingarm which helps us with our corner-entry feeling – now the floating feeling that the Honda historically has is a bit less. In this phase the bike has improved so much.”

Zarco agrees. “We have improved the turning and also the stability in fast corners, which helps a lot. Now that we have better things we can try different settings, but we need time to adapt to find a good base setting. We are still far from the winning bikes, so we are still in this development moment, but we have a much better base than at the beginning of the year.”

While Zarco, Marini and Mir use the new aero, Takaaki Nakagami continues with the old aero, presumably for back-to-back data.

Honda’s improvement in performance has created a much-needed boost in morale, a vital consideration, not only for the riders, but also for the engineers, mechanics and team management.

“Many of the Japanese engineers are saying thanks to me and it’s nice when they say, ‘Thank you’, I really appreciate it,” said Zarco, who preceded Sunday’s ninth place with eighth in Saturday’s sprint, both from seventh on the grid, by far his best qualifying performance of the year. “Clearly the motivation and confidence are growing and now I am happier getting on the bike.

“At the beginning of the season we couldn’t fight for the top ten and now it seems we can do it. And I feel that when you are in a good group you get another energy that pushes you to stay focused and ride even better. It’s a pleasure to catch something that feels like a victory.”

Both Zarco and Marini are clear where the RC213V is really lacking.

“Our weak point is acceleration, which isn’t so much a rear-grip issue,” Zarco explains. “We are not able to go forward because we are fighting wheelies and some movement from the rear of the bike. That’s also why I lose positions at start of races. I think it’s more mechanical than electronics or engine – it’s more like the balance of the bike. The step we did at Mandalika was in braking – we made a huge step. Now we need to improve the turning some more and acceleration.”

“Even if you pick up the bike exiting corners the power we can put into the tyre is very low,” adds Marini. “Compared to Aprilia, Ducati and KTM we are losing a lot of time there. At 40 to 50 degrees of lean there’s a big lack of grip compared to the others, so that’s the area where we must work.”

The RC213V may have less grip than Honda’s fastest rivals, but it has more grip than it had at the start of the year, which has introduced another problem. MotoGP’s current rear slick can give so much grip that it causes chatter or vibration, which has afflicted all the faster bikes at various stages of the season.

“I’m happy with the base of the bike at the moment but we have a problem with the rear tyre,” says Mir. “We have lots of vibration and for some reason, maybe how I sit on the bike, I have more vibration than the other Honda riders. This is my biggest problem and it doesn’t help me use the potential of the new aero and swingarm, it doesn’t allow me to push.”

While Honda has suddenly come good, or at least better, Yamaha has been taking tiny forward steps all season. Quartararo – undoubtedly the most talented of the current Honda and Yamaha riders – has been mightily impressive during pretty much every MotoGP weekend. His reward has been seventh-place finishes in each of the last three GPs.

Quartararo and team-mate Alex Rins have tried multiple different engine and chassis configurations this year, so much so that they are getting a bit confused. And their lives are only going to get more confusing now that Yamaha has an all-new V4 coming to replace its inline-four, now contesting its 23rd MotoGP season.

“I’ve tried so many frames I can’t remember,” Quartararo said at Mandalika, when quizzed about chassis progress. “At the first Misano race we had a new frame and this morning I tried another new one, but now we are back to the standard [pre-Misano] frame. And maybe we will have another new one in Japan this weekend. Many, many things!”

This process is not easy for racers. To go fast you need to be intimate with your bike, so that you know how it’s going to react to any given situation, so you are always ahead of it. When you are testing so many different ideas you can lose this feeling with the bike and you can lose your way too.

“It’s not great but this is what we need to make steps,” added Quartararo. “Since Misano we have had a smoother engine, which puts us towards the bottom of the top-speed charts, but it gives us better handling. Now we have to find more power while keeping the same agility – this is the tough job that Yamaha must do.”

At a guess, Quartararo is talking about engine inertia – too little inertia and power delivery becomes too wild, too much inertia and handling becomes too heavy.

The reason Yamaha is building a V4 is because all the other factories have V4s and an inline-four struggles to fight with V4s.

“We have less grip than them, less acceleration, more wheelie and more problems to stop the bike, so we don’t have any points stronger,” said Quartararo after the Mandalika sprint race. “For many years the bike has been quite bad in the fight. We are starting to have a base but in the sprint I couldn’t make even one overtake and we have to ride in a different way to try not to get overtaken. This is the point where we have to get stronger. It’s frustrating, because it’s always been the same issue. In 2022 [when he fought for the title with Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia] the problem was similar, but then the other brands weren’t that strong, so I could fight more at the front. Now if I’m behind, I’m stuck and I can’t do anything.

“Our first priority now is grip, then power and then electronics.”

Of course, all this will soon be irrelevant, because Yamaha is starting a whole new adventure with its V4. The engine is already on the dyno but latest reports suggest that the bike won’t be ready to race until midway through next season.

Will Yamaha show the engine to Quartararo and Rins while they’re in Japan this week?

“I’ve no idea where the engine is – if it’s in Italy or Japan,” grinned Quartararo.

This suggests that Yamaha is still using former Ferrari Formula 1 engine designer Luca Marmorini, who’s been working on the inline-four for the last couple of years. And it suggests that Yamaha will have the engine under development both in Japan and Italy.

The next few years are going to be a huge challenge for the Iwata company – not only is it trying to regain competitiveness in 1000cc MotoGP, it’s also building an entirely new 1000cc V4 for 2025 and 2026 and an 850cc V4 for the 2027 rules revamp.