An underground war has broken out between Honda and Yamaha, apparently related to the Iwata maker’s problems at the first Grand Prix of the season.
As you will remember at the Andalusian GP in Jerez, Franco Morbidelli had to retire while battling for the podium because of an engine problem similar to the one he suffered from Rossi before.
The result was that a certain unit was removed from the engine map, while Dorna’s sheet, in which the available engines are marked, clearly showed this Both Vinales and Morbidelli have used all five of the engines approved by the regulations. Quartararo and Rossi four and only Fabio with all engines still at his disposal.
Yamaha’s response was to send the loaded engine to Japan for analysis. The result is there and it appears that the valves were blamed for the failure. A faulty batch.
The regulation clearly provides for this In such cases or when it comes to security, the manufacturer can ask the MSMA – the manufacturers’ association – for delivery to open the sealed motors and replace the parts responsible for the malfunction.
Obviously, The technical problem must not be due to a design flaw. Otherwise, the very meaning of the rule that quotes motors of 5 for manufacturers, for example “winners”, and 7 for manufacturers with “concessions” would be nullified. These concessions are lost when 6 points are reached: 3 in case of victory, 2 and 1 for second or third place.
At the moment only KTM (with 3 points for Binder’s victory in Brno) and Aprilia have the “concessions”.
At the moment, Since the MSMA has to decide unanimously whether or not to authorize the reopening of the engines for the replacement of defective parts, Honda has expressed its objection. Please further clarify the defectiveness of the component. Clarifications that were currently judged to be inadequate.
As you may recall, this kind of “clarification” last year forced Ducati to provide the MSMA with graphics and drawings of the infamous “spoon” accused of being an aerodynamic component.
For the sake of transparency, further details were requested from Yamaha, which forced the Japanese manufacturer to wait and not to risk reducing the speed of its M1, with a drop in performance, of course.
And that would explain why Morbidelli was the only M1 that performed well in Brno.
Obviously, at this point, Honda has every interest, but also every right, to slow down as much as possible the approval of the waiver by the MSMA that would allow Yamaha to protect the engines from other failures.
It certainly wasn’t elegant to get the word out that rival Yamaha was in a “check” situation, but battles aren’t just fought on the track …
With Marquez out of action and only likely to return at Misano, Binder’s win in Brno and the podium from Morbidelli and Zarco, three underdogs compared to Quartararo and Vinales, were greeted with satisfaction by HRC. Even at the Red Bull Ring, the best Yamaha on the track with dry asphalt was Morbidelli’s, the fifth fastest time. Quartararo is 10th and is scratching in the second quarter, while Vinales (11th) and Rossi (13) are forced to fight for the first quarter in case the third RP is wet.
With his main opponents “slowed down” in the title race, a recovery of “Magic Marc” is still possible.
War is war …