How Yamaha’s V4 compared to current bike in Misano MotoGP debut

Augusto Fernandez, Yamaha’s test rider, says the brand’s new V4 MotoGP bike has “potential” but is “not ready yet” following its race debut at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Announced last year, Yamaha has been hard at work testing its V4 privately for much of this year but finally revealed it to the world publicly last weekend at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Test rider Augusto Fernandez was tasked with putting proper race mileage on the bike, with the Spaniard going from 22nd on the grid in both races.

He was 18th in the sprint, before scoring points in 14th in the grand prix.

Fernandez, who did have two long lap penalties to serve for jumping the start, was over a minute off the race leader and was 40.540s back from leading Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo in eighth.

Commenting on the V4’s grand prix debut, Fernandez says the fuel calculations for the new bike were out and he had to start managing this from lap 10 of 27.

“The potential is there, because we had some good sessions, some good feelings,” he said on Sunday at Misano.

“But of course we are not ready yet. We had a lot of problems with fuel consumption. I had to manage the fuel from lap 10.

“Of course, the engine is different, so calculations are different. There is a lot to discover on the new bike.

“But, as I said, the potential is somewhere there. I’m looking forward to the test to see the factory guys on the bike because I really know they can have a good feeling, especially on one lap.

“I’m curious to see the lap time because I felt good on one lap. So, they can push a little bit more than me. So, I’m curious to see the lap time and see the direction we have to take for the future.”

Yamaha V4 vs Inline 4 lap time comparison

The San Marino Grand Prix weekend was never about results for the new V4. Private testing has been done in a cautious mode from the Japanese brand, who has been wary of adding too much power to the bike straight away.

There were some teething issues with the bike on Friday for Fernandez, but for the most part it ran smoothly and completed both race distances.

That’s more than can be said for other manufacturers debuting a brand new bike. In 2014, Suzuki’s first wildcard prior to its 2015 return ended with an engine failure. In Valencia at the end of 2016, KTM dropped out its first grand prix with a mechanical issue.

Fernandez began the weekend in FP1 with a 1m32.537s, before improving by almost a second in Practice to a 1m31.678s. Quartararo was the fastest Yamaha on Friday, 0.588s quicker than the V4.

Fernandez was 1.331s down on Quartararo in Q1, with that swelling to 1.584s in Q2. With Fernandez not a full-time racer, having that explosive one-lap speed - especially compared to one of MotoGP’s best qualifier - isn’t a true reflection of the pace of the V4 M1 in time attack trim.

In the sprint, Fernandez was 18th and around 10 seconds from leading Yamaha Jack Miller in 14th, who was top M1 after Fabio Quartararo crashed out of fourth.

In the grand prix, the pace difference between Fernandez and top Yamaha Quartararo was an average of 1.196s per lap.

Fernandez’s fuel saving certainly contributed to this, while several late 1m35s suggest he made a few mistakes. His gap to Quartararo was also accentuated by two long lap penalties for jumping the start.