It has been a long year. 20 races is not 5% more than 19 races, that much is clear from the drawn faces in the paddock. The kind of intensity required to operate on a grand prix weekend means that the additional effort required for each race Dorna adds increases exponentially. We get through each weekend clinging on by the skin of our teeth, and that skin gets thinner every weekend.
Which is a roundabout way of saying I am way behind on a lot of things, including additional notes from a fascinating final race of the year. And that weekend was topped off by one of the most interesting and important tests of the year, where factories had a mountain of new stuff to test.
That needs a deep dive to examine properly, with photos to accompany and explain what we are seeing. But before that, a few brief notes on what I saw, and what it might mean.
Let us first get to the losers of the test. Speak to anyone at Yamaha and they will tell you what a big step forward the latest engine spec has been, and how confident they are that it will go a long way to fixing the deficit the Yamaha M1 has compared to the other bikes. Even the riders are confident, with Fabio Quartararo positive about the engine after the Misano test in September.
But when Quartararo and Morbidelli tried the engine at Valencia, all of the speed they had in Misano was gone. “I’m surprised, because actually this engine was supposed to be a little bit faster than the one we tested in Misano and Barcelona. I found that it was the same as two days ago,” a visibly frustrated Quartararo said. “Especially on the qualifying lap, and we compared the speed and was the same.”
Franco Morbidelli had a similar experience. “It has been strange because we were expecting more power increment from the engines and that didn’t really happen. We need to understand well why,” the Italian said.
Quartararo was confused as well as frustrated. “We have to analyze what happened because we also had two tests – Misano, Barcelona – then Cal made Motegi and Jerez and they can see the difference on the engine. But right now, there was no difference, so we have to analyze really well what happened.”
That is indeed very odd, and suggests that the problem may lie elsewhere. If you test a bike at four different tracks and it is markedly faster, then take it to a fifth and there is no difference, the most logical explanation is that you did something wrong at the fifth track. Setting up a MotoGP has become so complex that it is easy to overlook some detail or other, some electronic setting which restrains all those extra horses freshly jammed into the new engine.
Apart from the new engine, there was a new frame, very similar to the one Fabio Quartararo has been using for most of this season. Quartararo felt little difference, Franco Morbidelli was much more positive, having stuck with the old frame since Misano.
Yamaha also tested new aero, clearly derived from looking at the Ducati. The top wings are shaped like the top wings of the GP22 (but not the GP23, more of which later), which provides better downforce. That, in turn, costs top speed, but the advantages of the new aero were appreciated by both factory Yamaha riders.
At Honda, only Marc Marquez spoke to us, and what he had to say made for unhappy listening to HRC. Marquez said the new prototype had a little more front feeling, but that improvement came at a cost elsewhere. He didn’t specify where, but when I asked if the bike had rear grip, he answered curtly, “no”.
“I expected more, because always you want more and more,” Marquez said. “I cannot say I am disappointed because Honda is working and they are trying and they brought a new bike, but we need more if we want to fight for a championship. With the one that we received here – we will not fight for a championship .”
There were a few notable changes, including a new engine with a little bit – and Marquez made it plain that it was a very little bit – more torque. That came in part from the new air intake, much larger than the old one, presumably to help with filling the airbox and increasing intake pressure. Marquez once again experimented with the different exhaust.
There was disappointment at Aprilia too, with nothing new to test. “A wasted opportunity” is how Aleix Espargaro described it to Spanish broadcaster DAZN. Not wasted for Miguel Oliveira, who jumped on the RS-GP with the RNF team and was quickly up to speed, finishing fourth fastest ahead of Aleix Espargaro. Oliveira looked comfortable and fast, and had adapted quickly.
Not that we can read too much into the times. Tuesday after a race means a thick layer of juicy Michelin rubber giving more grip than anyone has had all weekend. It disguises problems and helps riders go fast. But this test was also so busy that pretty much helped the grid didn’t both with trying to set a fast time, concentrating instead on the work that needed to be done.
The one small consolation for Aprilia is that everyone appears to be copying their fat lower fairing. KTM had a version, Ducati had a version, and Honda had a version which appeared at the Misano test. But while Aprilia riders say it helps the bike in long corners by sucking the fairing into the ground, neither Brad Binder nor Pecco Bagnaia felt that was where it helped.
Binder said he couldn’t isolate the effect, as he had tested a whole new aero package, and it was hard to unpick the effects of the different parts. “We changed everything as a package, so I don’t actually know what’s doing what,” the Red Bull KTM rider said. “But yeah the package felt quite nice, I liked it. When it was really windy at one stage, I felt it was better in the wind. I felt like I had a bit more front contact.”
Beyond the aero package, KTM had also brought an entirely new bike. An updated version of the frame used by Brad Binder in the race, with a bit more turning and a bit more front feel, but which came at the price of a lack of rear grip. A new tail section similar to the one debuted at the Misano test, with the fuel tank moved to redistribute the weight. A step forward, Binder felt, though he would like some more rear grip thrown into the bargain.
Ducati had a new bike, described by Pecco Bagnaia as “an evolution not a revolution”. A new fairing with a modified upper section, a new frame, and a new engine, all only a little bit different to the GP22. The new engine was not much different, but was a little smoother in power delivery. But Ducati are at the stage where making changes is more and more risky, given that the bike is already pretty fantastic. The risk of making a fantastic bike worse, by changing it just for the sake of change, is ever present.
There was a lot of excitement over riders switching brands, with Miguel Oliveira moving from the factory KTM team to RNF Aprilia, Jack Miller moving from the factory Ducati team to the factory KTM squad, Enea Bastianini taking Miller’s spot in the factory Ducati team, Alex Marquez leaving LCR Honda to take the seat vacated by Bastianini, Pol Espargaro swapping the Repsol Honda seat for Tech3 GasGas, Raul Fernandez leaving Tech3 for an RNF Aprilia, and the two ex-Suzuki riders taking the spare Honda seats, Joan Mir to the factory Repsol Honda squad and Alex Rins heading to the satellite LCR Honda team.
Oliveira came out of the swap stakes on top, ending the day as fourth fastest ahead of Aprilia captain Aleix Espargaro. Miller, Mir, Pol Espargaro, and Alex Marquez are all grouped together seven tenths off the pace of fastest rider Luca Marini. Bastianini’s change was the smallest, stepping into the factory Ducati team where he has to get to know a new crew chief and team. While Alex Rins seemed to struggle on the LCR Honda.
Raul Fernandez is the one to worry about. The Spaniard had gone to Tech3 KTM under duress, having already tried to get out of the contract and join the RNF WithU Yamaha team. That contract ended this year, and now he is with RNF, now on Aprilias. Yet Fernandez is the slowest of the riders changing bikes, and only four tenths faster than rookie Augusto Fernandez on the bike Raul left behind. Raul may have moped his way through 2022, but if he is to stay in MotoGP beyond 2023, he is going to have to start putting the work in to find some speed.
| position | No. | riders | bike | time | differential | prev |
| 1 | 10 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 1’30,032 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia | 1’30,257 | 0.225 | 0.225 |
| 3 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 1’30,262 | 0.230 | 0.005 |
| 4 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | Aprilia | 1’30,367 | 0.335 | 0.105 |
| 5 | 41 | Alex Espargaro | Aprilia | 1’30,398 | 0.366 | 0.031 |
| 6 | 49 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 1’30,483 | 0.451 | 0.085 |
| 7 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1’30,496 | 0.464 | 0.013 |
| 8th | 89 | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 1’30,576 | 0.544 | 0.080 |
| 9 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1’30,578 | 0.546 | 0.002 |
| 10 | 23 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati | 1’30,592 | 0.560 | 0.014 |
| 11 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1’30,626 | 0.594 | 0.034 |
| 12 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1’30,655 | 0.623 | 0.029 |
| 13 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1’30,676 | 0.644 | 0.021 |
| 14 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1’30,691 | 0.659 | 0.015 |
| 15 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Ducati | 1’30,712 | 0.680 | 0.021 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | gasgas | 1’30,757 | 0.725 | 0.045 |
| 17 | 43 | Jack Miller | KTM | 1’30,787 | 0.755 | 0.030 |
| 18 | 36 | Joan Mir | Honda | 1’30,914 | 0.882 | 0.127 |
| 19 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1’31.081 | 1,049 | 0.167 |
| 20 | 42 | Alex Rins | Honda | 1’31.228 | 1,196 | 0.147 |
| 21 | 25 | Raúl Fernández | Aprilia | 1’31,340 | 1.308 | 0.112 |
| 22 | 37 | Augusto Fernández | gasgas | 1’31,730 | 1,698 | 0.390 |
| 23 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1’32,805 | 2,773 | 1,075 |
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