In today’s MotoGP there is a character alongside the rider who plays a really fundamental role in the pits and whose work during the race weekend makes a real difference. We are talking about the telemetrist, or rather the engineer, who has the task of “reading” the driver’s data and interpreting it together with him in order to understand at which points of the route they can improve. This includes everything from evaluating riding technique to variations in bike setup, so the skills involved are of significant importance.
During the Sepang weekend we interviewed Matteo Flamigni and Davide Marelli the two work together as a couple Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales respectively This season Yamaha has made significant progress in terms of electronics management and it was very interesting to talk to two professionals who have the opportunity to work with two very different riders on a daily basis. You even betrayed it Secrets about how different the work of the more than experienced Rossi compares to the younger and perhaps hungrier Maverick Vinales.
What kind of exchanges or collaborations do you have?
“We are colleagues and friends: there is total cooperation between us. We have no secrets.”
Matteo Flamigni: “There is full cooperation. We are colleagues and we exchange ideas and meet daily to make this possible. We talk about mappings, strategies. I have a great relationship with Davide, we have been working together for years. There are no secrets between us, and I think that approach has helped us grow. Being closed will never lead to improvement, but staying open that way will.”
ROSSI AND FLAMIGNI
David Marelli: “The great thing is that beyond our professional relationship, we are also friends. We don’t hide anything from each other, also because there is little to hide! Comparing data always reveals the truth, so why lie? There are no secrets.”
How would you describe the individual methods of Valentino Rossi and Mavericks Vinales?
MF “Lately, seeing the tough races he’s had, Valentino is also trying to improve his driving style. Not only are we trying to improve the bike, both the frame and the electronics, but he’s also trying to understand how he can ride differently to help the electronics and the bike put less stress on the tires. Braking with two fingers instead of three puts less strain on the chassis. To understand this better we can look at the data from the other Yamaha riders and now they also do track videos so we could not only look at Maverick braking very hard but also other riders. From the video images and telemetry we found that more progressive braking can help corner entry and make the bike more stable.
“Vinales studies Marquez’s videos to understand the mysteries.”
DM – “Maverick is a guy who really wants to learn. He’s young and improving from race to race. He understands how the others drive, he understands their strengths and weaknesses that we can analyze from, I mean. He looks closely at what Marquez is doing, including his videos, and the others before him. He tries to understand their strengths and incorporate some of that into his own riding.”
“Maverick and Valentino ask about different things.”
What does Valentino demand in terms of electronics and what about Maverick? What are the differences?
MF – “Valentino’s requests have been fairly constant lately. We focus on engine delivery, so we try to protect the tires on routes with little grip by looking for fairly soft mappings, worked a lot on traction control. Corner entry is very important, as is engine braking management. We try to make the bike as stable as possible when stepping in, Valentino’s wishes are almost always related to these areas. The electronics now make all the difference, like it or not, you have to rely on this tool. You have to use it and in the best possible way. A kind of obligation, because without electronic controls such a bike would be unthinkable today.”
DM – “As for Maverick, We focused on the braking phase because he struggles with a full tank early in the race. He can’t overtake his rivals so we focused on the brake setup. We are also working on the delivery to protect the tires and finish the race with a bit of a lead. These are the important parts of our work, along with the launch. Maverick has improved there, but there is room for further improvement.”
Her role in the garage has become perhaps the most important. It almost seems as if it’s your fault when things go bad, and likewise when things go well!
DM – “Ultimately, the electronics have to match the work on the frame. The goal is for everything to work well together, because if you have a good frame but the motor doesn’t work, there’s nothing to do. It all has to be done together.”
Flamigni: “Are we comparing Rossi and Vinales? That is exactly our job.”
If you compare the telemetry of a single lap done by Valentino and Maverick, what would immediately catch your eye?
MF – “It’s something we always do, and actually it would be ideal not to find any differences! That’s the kind of work we do during the race weekend to achieve optimal performance. We try to be less fickle and keep the performance where we are fast. We can’t tell you if one is faster than the other under braking or mid-corner. We don’t want to tell you!”
ROSSI AND VINALES IN SEPANG
DM – “Where there are differences between the two drivers, we compare ourselves.”
Quartararo? He has already figured out how to brake with the Yamaha M1.
And the same with a lap like Quartararo’s?
MF – “Don’t ask me those questions! We’re talking about minor differences. Let’s put it like Valentino and Maverick, he also knows how to break free quickly. Despite being a rookie, he already knows perfectly how to brake really hard with this bike and he already knows how to take advantage of this bike exiting corners.”
DM-“It’s about hundredths of a second. Quartararo is very strong in some areas, we are in others. He’s under no pressure.”
But is there a forbidden dream for telemetricians? Whose telemetry would you like to see?
MF – “I speak for myself and I say that working with Valentino was my forbidden dream, something that changed my job. I won with him. I think I’m the most envied in the paddock for that. Technically, I think it would be very interesting for a telemetrist to be able to see all riders’ telemetry. For example, I would be curious to see Abrahams as well. He also has areas where he’s strong.”
Marelli: I’d like to see Marquez’s telemetry, especially his near falls.”
DM – “I want to see Marquez’s telemetry, to see if he really has that lead, if he’s really that fast.”
On the internet, which is often full of nonsense, all sorts of things are said about Marquez, even that he has a strange device for falls on his Honda. As an electronics expert, can you debunk that?
MF “There is absolutely no mechanism. There is only the ability to react with the body to the movement of the bike.”
DM – “That’s why I want to see his telemetry. To see what’s happening at that moment.”
Damon Hill said the big difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle is that you control a bike with your body, not a car. Do you see these things, how movement affects weight distribution and bike dynamics?
MF – “In the past we’ve done tests of this type by putting strain gauges on the handlebars and pedals. You could see the deformation on the pedals and handlebars, allowing you to understand the amount of kilos put on by the rider. When racing On bikes one cannot do this type of procedure because the complexity of the movements and vibrations would not make it useful. This is done on test bikes.”
Flamigni: “The only area in which motorcycles can make progress is in studying the movements of the rider on the motorcycle.”
Where can the bike still improve? In which area can you make progress?
MF “I think we were able to improve the mathematical model of the driver’s position during a lap. let me explain. It would be nice to really understand how the driver’s movement in the center of gravity affects the vehicle’s position in the middle of a turn, when entering or exiting. It would be nice to understand this aspect better and how the movement of the rider affects the behavior of the bike.”
DM – “Of course the driver has a certain position when braking and accelerating and influences the weight distribution. We have a static weight distribution, but when he’s in motion the rider himself moves everything and this is where things change in terms of the considerations made when the bike is stationary. It would be interesting to understand how this plays out in certain situations.”
In the last part of our interview, Matteo Flamigni was called into the garage by Valentino Rossi, So our last questions were only answered by Davide Marelli.
There’s a lot of electronics in bikes these days, but riding them on the track and pushing them to the limit always removes everything, at least ABS and suspension. Why is that?
MARELLI CELEBRATES WITH VINALES IN SEPANG
DM – “It’s normal. And I think it depends on the ABS conditioning you a lot, especially during the last bit of braking.”
Drivers can no longer lie?
DM – “The drivers are very accurate now. They give more and more detailed information. The data is there and it’s real, but I think the driver is becoming more and more professional and accurate over time.”
Would you like to replace the driver with Matteo once for just one GP?
DM – “Yes, out of curiosity. But you have to keep in mind that you often build a relationship with the rider in which it takes very little to understand each other. Not right at first glance, but it takes very little to get each other. It also becomes complicated to form a relationship with just one race. These are things that develop over time. Of course, if we swap drivers for just one race, we might not have the same relationship that we have with our drivers today.”
You have worked with several drivers. Who made a strong impression for a specific reason?
DM – “Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. When I think about my drivers in the past, I remember Bayliss, who was very instinctive. The fluidity of driving makes me think of Lorenzo and I think Maverick as a pure talent is maybe the best ever.”
Audio recorded by Paolo Scalera and Matteo Aglio