Rossi, Vinales calm over Yamaha engine failures, suggest heat a factor

Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales have shrugged off concerns over the reliability of the manufacturer’s engines despite losing three units during the opening two rounds of the season.

While Yamaha celebrated a 1-2-3 last time out in the Andalusian MotoGP, both Rossi and Petronas SRT rider Franco Morbidelli suffered identical engine failures between rounds one and two in Jerez, an outcome that whittles down its permitted allocation at a relatively early stage in the year.

With the next three races taking place around more ‘power-hungry’ circuits at Brno and the Red Bull Ring, it was speculated there may be concerns Yamaha would be forced to play it safe with engines that are already down on speed compared with its rivals.

Nonetheless, Rossi says is calm about the situation, speculating that it was the excessively high temperatures in Jerez that ultimately placed undue stress on the engines.

“Yamaha worked very hard to understand and fix the problem, now we have to hope that everything will be OK,” the Italian said.

“I don’t think if you are at a fast track like here or in Austria it is a big problem for the engine, but maybe more the temperatures in Jerez, the conditions were extreme.

“I think here and in Austria it’s colder, so it will be easier for us, and also for the bikes.”

Similarly, Vinales played down talk of a crisis, even if it meant being conservative with the performance because the strength of the M1 comes in the corners.

“I am not worried because we have many strong points on the bike that we need to work. No-one is worried inside the team which is good news, so we can concentrate and stay motivated.”