Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha have endured a frustrating start to the 2025 MotoGP season and head to the Grand Prix of the Americas facing an issue the Iwata squad have ‘never seen before’.
The season may only be two rounds in but Yamaha find their brands rooted to the bottom of the teams’ standings. Just their satellite outfit Pramac with 10 have scored fewer points than Yamaha’s factory team with 11, leaving them miles behind leaders Ducati with 117 already.
Even both Honda brands rank clear of Yamaha with LCR scoring 25 points and Honda taking 20 across meets in Thailand and Argentina. Pramac star Jack Miller and factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins were the best Yamahas in the Grands Prix in P11, 22.315s and 21.663s off the lead.
Yamaha enduring tyre wear problems at ‘never seen before’ levels
Yamaha felt they had made progress after pre-season testing after linking up with Pramac as a de facto second factory team. But the gains they established over the Sepang and Buriram tests are yet to pay dividends for either Yamaha squad in the opening rounds of this season.
Qualifying has shown the YZR-M1 can compete over a single lap with Miller recording P4 on the grid for the Thai Grand Prix and Fabio Quartararo scoring P7 at the Argentina Grand Prix. But neither rider could carry their one-lap pace into the races as both fell through the order.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Yamaha from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
Part of the problem for Quartararo, Rins and Miller has been that the M1 has eaten through its tyres at a rate Yamaha team director Massimo Meregalli admits the Japanese brand have ‘never seen before’. Fixing the M1’s tyre wear issues is now Yamaha’s first point of business.
Meregalli said, via quotes by Speedweek: “It’s very good to see that we achieved our goal of improving our pace in qualifying. What’s less good is that we left something behind over the race distance.
“The susceptibility to tyre wear has increased to an extent we’ve never seen before. This is exactly where we need to start.”
Yamaha’s tyre wear could cause problems at the 2025 Grand Prix of the Americas
Yamaha’s struggles have surprised Carlo Pernat after showing more promise in pre-season testing than the Iwata squad, as well as Pramac, have since replicated. Their tyre wear woes could also see Yamaha endure another tough time at this week’s Grand Prix of the Americas.
MotoGP moving the Americas GP from April to late March should bring cooler temperatures and with it potentially higher levels of tyre wear. Given Meregalli admits Yamaha’s tyre wear has been beyond their expectations, Quartararo and co may not hold out much hope again.
The Circuit of the Americas was not a great track for Yamaha last season, too, as Quartararo led their bid with P15 in the Sprint ahead of Rins in P16. The Frenchman was also their lead rider in the 2024 Americas GP in P12, 22.899s off winner Maverick Vinales, and Rins retired.
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