There is nothing ruthless and sincere about numbers to describe the situation Honda and Yamaha find themselves in. As the 2024 MotoGP season has turned the halfway mark, the two Japanese manufacturers continue to navigate very troubled waters. In the first 10 GPs of the year, Yamaha has collected just 53 points, Honda a whopping 26. Even excluding the uncatchable Ducati (leading the constructors’ standings with 352 points), Aprilia (at 192) and KTM (at 178) are uncatchable.
This is the year in which concessions debuted, a measure decided precisely to help the motorcycles of the Land of the Rising Sun that were short of results, but for the moment they have not given the results hoped for. It was impossible to expect the opposite, because regulatory help is not a magic formula that can solve every problem from one day to the next. Especially when the problems have been stagnant for a long time and a revolution is needed to solve them.
The reason is well known: Japanese manufacturers in recent years have not been able to innovate or even understand where MotoGP was going. Aerodynamics and lowering were introduced and developed by Europeans, while Honda and Yamaha did not understand how important they were, and ended up copying existing solutions, often with dubious results. Historically, in Tokyo they know how to make engines well and in Iwata frames, but now it is no longer enough. The result is in the table you see below, which shows the gap in qualifying, Sprint and race of the best Honda and Yamaha rider from the fastest.
Gaps that are measured with the hourglass rather than the stopwatch, with Hondas that have never even managed to get into Q2 in any GP of this 2024 (unlike Yamaha). Points, however, are given in the race and even in this case the situation is embarrassing. In a MotoGP that is played on the edge of tenths, gaps are measured in tens of seconds, even in short races.
The most serious alarm bell, however, is that they are not substantially decreasing. Not that the RC213V and the M1 have not improved, but the opponents have done the same. It is the problem of those who follow: they must not only close the current gap, but also the one that the best will create in their progression. One step forward is not enough, two if not three are needed.
Easy to say, hard to do. Yamaha is working on it by opening up to external and very Italian collaborations. First came the one with Marmorini for the engine, then the one with Dallara for aerodynamics and finally the hiring of Massimo Bartolini. The idea is to Italianize the Japanese method, exploiting the merits of the two worlds. It is logical that time is needed and Yamaha’s situation does not help to speed up the process because it only has two riders on the track and, for some time, not even a test rider. In fact, Cal Crutchlow has not been seen since the hand injury he suffered in May. He did not participate in the wild cards scheduled at Mugello and Silverstone (in the latter he was replaced by Remy Gardner) and has not tested again. The official riders can do it thanks to the concessions, but not even Rins is in perfect shape and Quartararo cannot take on all the work alone.
Things are set to change in 2025, with the arrival of Pramac as a satellite team that will allow to double the riders. However, it will also be necessary to find a tester, fast and experienced.
That’s what Honda did by hiring Aleix Espargarò. A good move, but certainly not a decisive one. Of the two Japanese manufacturers, the Tokyo one seemed the most reluctant to open up to external collaborations. So since the beginning of the year the pits have been invaded by armies of young engineers, but the results have not yet been seen. A lot has been pushed on development, but most of the innovations have been rejected. According to the riders, aerodynamics is the weak point of the RC213V, a bike that continues to be modified so much that the riders seem to be losing their way.
For Honda, as for Yamaha, it is necessary to find a direction. In 2027 everything will change with the new bikes, but there are still two years (and a half) to go and they cannot continue like this.
