Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha will have new engine components ready for the first race of 2026 in Thailand, but they will not improve the V4’s lack of top speed until MotoGP visits Jerez in April.
The 2026 MotoGP season starts in Buriram this weekend, followed by trips to Brazil, the USA and Qatar. Jerez will host the first European round of the season on April 24-26, and Yamaha now think the Spanish circuit will also offer their first chance to field an upgraded V4 engine.
Pre-season testing proved to be a trying affair for the Japanese manufacturer, as the new V4 engine that Yamaha will race left their riders at the bottom of the timesheets in Sepang and Buriram. Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu never ranked higher than 20th place in Buriram.
Pramac pilot Jack Miller and factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo ultimately only managed to show some promise on the new V4 M1 on the last day of the Buriram test, as they ranked eighth and ninth in the timesheets. But even then Miller was a full second off the fastest lap.
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Yamaha will not have an upgraded V4 engine ready until the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez
Miller’s race simulation at the 2026 Buriram test would have also seen him finish between 40 and 50 seconds behind the leader in an actual race. But Motorsport-Magazin claims Yamaha will only be able to deliver parts to this week’s Thai Grand Prix to improve the V4’s reliability.
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Yamaha had to stop testing in Sepang due to issues with their V4 engine, which also limited what running they could then produce. Additionally, Quartararo had to take over teammate Alex Rins’ spare bike for the final day in Buriram, as he hit the mileage limit on his two bikes.
Iwata chiefs hope the new parts that Yamaha expect will arrive in Buriram ahead of the Thai GP can avoid any further reliability problems. But Yamaha will not have an upgraded engine until the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, at the earliest, with any updates before then ruled out.
Factory Yamaha riders Quartararo and Rins plus Pramac pair Razgatlioglu and Miller will thus face a ‘significant top speed disadvantage’ in race conditions for at least the first four rounds of the 2026 season. It is far from the start to their V4 engine project that Yamaha hoped for.
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s top speed at the Buriram test was 6mph off the fastest effort
The pre-season tests in Sepang, where Yamaha also took part in the shakedown as the only MotoGP constructor in Concessions Rank D, and Buriram over the past month were a rude wake-up call for the Iwata team of exactly how far behind the curve their new V4 engine is.
Yamaha’s riders now face a bleak start to the season, with Buriram also staging the first race with this weekend’s Thai GP. Quartararo set the best top speed on the V4 Yamaha M1 at the Buriram test at 336.4km/h (209mph), but Ducati, KTM, Aprilia and Honda performed better.
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Razgatlioglu hit a top speed of 333.3km/h (207mph) in the afternoon on day one for his best top speed in Buriram. But the three-time WSBK champion only hit 330.2km/h (205mph) in the morning session, plus 328.2km/h (203mph) and 329.2km/h (204.5mph) across day two.
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia recorded the fastest top speed during the test in Buriram on the afternoon of day one and the morning of day two at 342.8km/h (213mph). Aprilia ace Marco Bezzecchi also recorded a top speed of 341.7km/h (212.3mph) on the afternoon of day one.
It is even claimed that Ducati rider Bagnaia backed out of joining Yamaha for 2027 in favour of Aprilia after seeing how badly their new V4 engine performed in Sepang. He was thought to be leaning towards joining the Yamaha-bound Jorge Martin but will replace him at Aprilia.
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