With Franco Morbidelli completely far from the performance he once displayed and the RNF duo also lackluster, Iwata's home year is completely dependent on the Frenchman. Luckily for the Japanese house, the reigning champion has a very strong year and carries the YZR-M1 on his back for the first part of the 2022 season
Yamaha has a bittersweet season in MotoGP in 2022. The YZR-M1 continues to have a significant power deficit, but Fabio Quartararo has found a way of getting it out of the way to not only be competitive, but also to make a solid defense of the World Drivers' Championship title. On the other side of the pits, Franco Morbidelli seems to be suffering from the Avril Lavigne curse, while the RNF satellite is not even a shadow of what it once was.
The reigning champion, Quartararo has been carrying the piano on his back. With apologies for the pun, since Yamaha is also a musical instrument manufacturer, 'El Diablo' is the only one who can make music with the M1. It is true that the prototype has some problems, but the M1 is far from being a bad bike. In Fabio's hands, the piano sounds in tune and could be part of any orchestra without compromising the progress of the music.
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As he has done over the past years, Fabio has come to 2022 with an updated version, more complete than the previous one. Intelligent, the Nice rider has learned to dribble the power deficit and has done everything he can to stand up to opponents who are faster. Quartararo has built up a good lead in the first part of the year and has been defending his MotoGP title well.
With the other riders, however, the instrument seems even lackluster. Franco Morbidelli, who in his SRT - now RNF - days was runner-up, currently seems to suffer from the same malady that afflicted Avril Lavigne, who burst onto the scene with her first album 'Let Go', but then failed to make the same impact, leading to rumors that she "died and was replaced".
Just like the Canadian singer, Franco follows suit and remains capable of repeating the feats of yesteryear, but for some reason this has not happened since arriving at the factory team. Some point to the split with Ramón Forcada as a determining factor, but Yamaha is still betting on Patrick Primmer at the helm of the team.
Another truth is that if it were not for the contract signed when replacing Maverick Viñales, Franco would be in trouble, but having a signed paper for 2023 gave him the peace of mind of having a guaranteed spot. It is also true that the contract could be terminated, but the Iwata-based company has repeatedly stressed that it will honor the agreement with the Italian-Brazilian.
On the satellite team side, it has been a horror show. Andrea Dovizioso has never regained the form of his good Ducati days, nor has he been able to adapt to a bike that is completely different from the Desmosedici on which he was three times runner-up. The experience of his return to MotoGP was so bad that the Italian has already decided to retire, but he leaves the scene with a final act that need not even have been presented. The return was of almost no use.
In the case of Darryn Binder, one cannot complain. After all, who expected more from him? First that the youngest of the South African brothers has never shown himself to be a prodigy in the smaller class. Secondly, Honda's experience with Jack Miller had already shown that the jump from Moto3 to MotoGP is huge. It takes time to adapt. A much longer time than the 11 races he has had so far.
It is even unfair to evaluate what Darryn has done so far. In fact, he shouldn't even be in MotoGP. Binder should first have gone through Moto2, tried a bigger bike with more electronics, before making the leap to a prototype with the YZR-M1.
Even though the M1 is known as a sweet bike with rookies, Darryn is no ordinary rookie. He is a rookie who came out of elementary school straight into college, skipping the high school phase. Binder does not and could not have a good year. To expect anything different from this was a complete dream.
Possibly a very few riders could do well in a jump like this, but only riders on the level of Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and so on. Darryn is not at this level. Perhaps not even Brad, who is the most talented of the brothers, could take this step painlessly.
Even though the scenario was not the most favorable for the RNF, it is surprising that the year is so bad. Only 20 points were earned during the year - equally divided between the riders - better only than Tech3, which is at the bottom of the Teams World Championship with rookies Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández.
All in all, Yamaha is lucky to have Quartararo in excellent form to defend the three tuning forks. Were it not for him, the situation would be quite perilous. For the rest of the season, Fabio will have his work cut out to defend his title and reach a second championship, but on the other side of the garage it is important to get Morbidelli back. After all, it will be just the two of them 'against the world' in 2023.
MotoGP is now on vacation and will only resume on August 7 with the British GP at Silverstone.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.