2023 WAS AN WONDERFUL year in MotoGP. Ducati continued its complete domination, and Valentino Rossi’s proteg… Francesco Bagnaia wrapped up his second world title from a hard-charging Spaniard Jorge Martin, who pushed the Italian right to the last round in Valencia. I love it when the championship goes right to the wire. The intensity was palpable, even from half a world away.
Bagnaia is calm, cunning, clinical, and calculated. Martin is brash, precocious, and frighteningly fast. It was a battle for the ages and one that will likely be repeated this year. Though I expect a few other lads to stick their noses in as well, just to make things more complicated.
The two Japanese factories, Honda and Yamaha, both struggled in 2023, despite having the two most talented riders on the grid in Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo on board their machines. Technical deficiencies plague both bikes, the Yamaha mainly lacking acceleration, and the Honda struggling for grip and feel at both ends. The two biggest players in Grand Prix racing for the last 50 years will now receive some concessions to allow them to do some extra development work this year, so everyone’s beady eyes will be on them to see if they can turn things around.
They’re both capable of bridging the gap, but it won’t happen overnight. Honda seems to face the biggest battle, being the furthest behind, and with a stable of 4 riders who can’t even boast a handful of MotoGP wins between them. It’s hard to develop a bike when you don’t have a rider who is a consistent front-runner to provide you with quality feedback. Much of the parts-testing donkey work will fall to the experienced Johan Zarco in the satellite LCR team. He has raced multiple manufacturers’ bikes and is well-placed to guide development. His input will be crucial to whether or not Honda can recover ground this year.
Yamaha on the other hand only has two riders, and the lack of a satellite team to provide extra rider input and data to the development guys will hold them back a little. The ace up their sleeve is Fabio Quartararo. The multiple world champ is almost ashe provide quality data and feedback to the engineers, but the pressure he is putting on Yamaha to give him a competitive bike is brutal. If Yamaha doesn’t show signs of solid progress in pre-season testing and the early rounds, Fabio will put himself on the market for 2025, and he will be a prime target for other manufacturers, as is right and proper. There is much on the line here for Yamaha.
