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Monster Energy Yamaha Racing have become the latest team to pull the wraps off its machinery for the 2024 MotoGP season for 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo and new recruit Alex Rins.
The refreshed rider pairing were on hand to reveal Yamaha Racing’s colours for this season during a ceremony at Sepang in Malaysia, where three days of official pre-season 2024 MotoGP testing will kick off on Tuesday.
While Quartararo stays on board with Yamaha for his fourth season in the official factory Yamaha team – and his sixth season in MotoGP total – he is joined by Rins, who switches from LCR Honda to replace Ducati-bound Franco Morbidelli.
The 2024 MotoGP season is seen as a critical one for Yamaha after failing to win either a Sprint Race or full-length Grand Prix last season, while this will also be a second year without a satellite spin-off team to bolster its two factory-backed entries.
Indeed, Quartararo has spoken at length about the Yamaha M1’s foibles, centred predominantly around an underpowered engine versus its rivals, which has left it vulnerable in race trim. Though Yamaha moved to improve this last season, the Frenchman – World Champion in 2021 – complained that it impacted the M1’s balance and tautness as a result.
With only a year to run on Quartararo’s contract and strong rumours he will be courted by the likes of Ducati and KTM, Yamaha is hoping the addition of the experienced Rins – who has won races with Yamaha’s two Japanese rivals, Honda and Suzuki in the past two seasons – will assist the manufacturer in finding a more competitive direction with the only inline-four machine on the grid.
While the M1 itself is expected to evolve over the coming weeks ahead of the opening round, the design of the livery itself errs close to its look from recent years, notably its prominent title sponsorship with Monster Energy drinks.
Can Yamaha find a candidate to become its MotoGP satellite partner in 2024?
Yamaha has spoken of its desire to return to a four-bike effort for 2025 by convincing a team to take on its machines as a satellite effort.
It previously ran with Tech 3 Racing until 2019 when it defected to KTM, being replaced by the Sepang Racing Team/RNF Racing until the end of the 2022 MotoGP season.
Rumours are that it is courting VR46 Racing to take on the project via its close relationship with Valentino Rossi, though word is from the team’s day-to-day management that it would prefer to remain with Ducati.
As a result, a team such as Leopard Racing or the VR46 Master Camp team (formerly known as Avintia Racing) could take it on.
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