Fabio Quartararo offers sobering verdict on Yamaha V4
Fabio Quartararo said the V4 Yamaha felt "worse" than the Inline bike at the Misano MotoGP test.
Fabio Quartararo offered a sobering assessment of Yamaha’s long-awaited V4 prototype after his first proper runs on the machine at Misano.
The 2021 world champion had a first outing during a rain-affected private test in Barcelona last week, but Monday’s post-race Misano test marked his first serious opportunity to evaluate the current level of the bike.
Quartararo took over a prototype that Augusto Fernandez rode to 14th as a wild-card in Sunday’s San Marino MotoGP.
Fernandez began the weekend strongly, within 1.2s of the top on Friday, before a lack of set-up data and other performance issues hampered his races.
Despite persistent fuel warnings, the Spaniard set a best grand prix lap 1.5s slower than race winner Marc Marquez and was less than a second off Quartararo, quickest of those on the current Inline M1.
That looked to put Quartararo’s previous V4 lap time target within reach: “If I try it and I'm less than half a second off my [Inline] lap time, I think it's a good step,” the Frenchman had said in Hungary.
"Right now, the new bike is worse"
Quartararo finished the morning session at Misano with a best time of 1m 31.781s, putting him 18th on the timesheets, 1.067s from Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).
That was slightly faster than Quartararo’s best race lap on the way to eighth in the grand prix, but well below his head-turning 1m 30.228s front row qualifying lap.
At lunchtime, Quartararo sounded unimpressed when quizzed on the V4, which will next be seen in grand prix action during a wild-card with Fernandez at Sepang in October.
"There's work to be done, too early to say if it's a good base," Quartararo told Sky Italia.
He added: "Right now, the new bike is worse than the Inline4.
"I noticed improvements [from the V4 vs the Inline4] in Barcelona that I haven't felt here.
“I don't think the V4 engine will solve our problems; I found them identical.
“So far, I don't see any progress in the areas we need, although there's room for improvement."
Top speed "pretty slow". Grip "still not there"
Quartararo continued riding the V4 in the afternoon session, setting the 16th fastest lap time (+1.224s from Pedro Acosta) after improving his best time to a 1m 31.598s.
"This was the first real test with the other [riders]," Quartararo told MotoGP.com. "So we see a bit our position right now. A lot of work to do.
"We have the same comments. We saw how much Augusto struggled in the race yesterday, it's a little bit what is happening to us today.
"We have to work on everything. The top speed is pretty slow. The grip is still not there. We still have a lot of work to do with the electronics. The aerodynamics are more-or-less a copy-and-paste from the Inline4.
"So of course we are not really, but it's the second Shakedown... I will repeat, a lot of work."
Jack Miller and Alex Rins rode Fernandez’s other V4 machine, the Pramac rider starting the day on the prototype before handing over to Rins.
Miller, 21st and +0.9s from Quartararo in the morning, and Rins were more complimentary of the bike’s current level.
"It's good. The bike's doing all the right things," said Miller. "Just obviously needs a little bit of time to understand the weight distribution, where we need to put the front end, where we need to put the pivot, these kinds of things.
"Just set up more than anything. We're early doors in the project. It’s doing the right things in the areas that we want it to do it. But for sure, there are areas where it needs to improve."
Rins, 20th in the afternoon half-a-second slower than Quartararo, said: "I'm quite happy with how the new bike works – it has a lot of positive things and there is a lot of room for improvement.
"I was feeling good on braking. It's too early to have a 'final bike' yet. For sure, the next time we jump on the new bike, many parts will have changed.
"We were quite far in terms of lap time, but the V4-Powered Prototype also has good grip. We are heading in the right way."
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