Yamaha: 19 riders, 3 teams out of contract - MotoGP 2024 “super complex”

With Monster Yamaha team-mates Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins among 19 MotoGP riders out of contract this year, plus three satellite teams, Lin Jarvis expects the 2024 season to be ‘super complex off the track’.

“You have 18 or 19 riders without contracts for next year. There are four that do, which I think are Binder, I suppose Acosta, Zarco, Marini,” Jarvis said at the Sepang test.

Publicly at least, star rookie Acosta has only a one-year contract at KTM, although the factory surely has options on his services for 2025.

Jarvis continued: “So it's going to be super exciting on the track, to watch the races, and it’s going to be super complex off the track, because you also have three satellite teams without contracts signed [with manufacturers] for 2025, which are obviously Pramac, LCR and VR46.”

Pramac is Ducati’s official satellite team, using the latest machinery and riders that are signed by the factory. LCR has the same status at Honda. VR46 is therefore the least attached on paper, using year-old Ducati machinery and riders signed only by the team.

Valentino Rossi’s own Yamaha history is also obvious, and he remains a brand ambassador, but it would be a leap of faith in competitive terms to drop the Desmosedicis at this stage.

But the priority for Jarvis, managing director and team principal of Yamaha’s MotoGP project, will arguably be to retain the services of 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo.

"I'm 100 percent focused on the job. I think [Yamaha] are doing a big step compared to the previous years. For my future, I will have to take my time but of course, it will be a really important decision," Quartararo said.

Winless since mid-2022, Yamaha currently doesn’t have a strong hand to play in terms of results.

However, Jarvis is confident that the investment and changes introduced in recent years - including signing Luca Marmorini to boost engine performance, Dallara to work on aerodynamics and recent key staff from Ducati - not to mention new access to technical concessions, will pay off this season.

“We must come back to frequent podiums and I think we can win some races,” he said.

‘You sign a contract for the bike you expect to have in the future’

But signing new deals with Quartararo, Rins and a satellite team will also depend on “convincing them of our intention, capacity and skills for the future.”

“Both for a satellite [team] and for our own riders - we need to be competitive. And if we are not 100% competitive this year, we need to be convincing that with our investments, we are making progress,” Jarvis explained.

“Because if you sign a contract, you don't sign a contract for the bike that you have [now]. You sign it for the bike that you expect that you will have in the future.”

Citing the example of Lewis Hamilton in F1 - who surprised by leaving McLaren for Mercedes in 2012, and has now agreed on a shock switch to Ferrari for 2025 - Jarvis hopes riders and a satellite team will see Yamaha's future potential:

“It's interesting looking at Lewis Hamilton, because it's a big ballsy change that he's making and I do remember, and he quoted it this week himself, that he made a big change in 13 when he went to Mercedes.

“When he went to Mercedes, a lot of people, including me, thought ‘Really? Are you sure?’ Obviously, he knew something and he had some confidence that they were putting in place what was necessary to be competitive in the future.

“So the most important thing for the rider choice and satellite team is to convince them of our intention, capacity and skills for the future.”

While rider deals potentially have longer deadlines, signing a satellite team - absent from Yamaha’s MotoGP line-up since RNF switched to Aprilia for 2023 - needs to be done by “mid-season”.

“In the worst-case scenario, the summer break. But in my opinion, sometime in June, maybe Assen, is about the right timing," Jarvis said.