Barcelona is usually a good track for Yamaha bikes, but recently, the M1 has struggled with grip issues on the circuit’s low-traction surface.
During the second practice session, it seemed like both Yamaha riders could qualify directly for Q2 on Saturday. But only Alex Rins managed to secure a spot in the top 10 by the end of practice, finishing ninth.
Fabio Quartararo, the defending champion, will have to go through Q1 after his team took too long to change his bike’s chain, leaving him no time for a proper attempt at a fast lap. Quartararo described it as “a mess.”
He explained, “We took so much time to change one thing on the bike, and I could only do one lap in the second run because of yellow flags, so I couldn’t set a good lap time.”
The issue was with the chain length because they had tried a longer swingarm. Unfortunately, they stopped to make the change too late, costing them valuable time. Quartararo said it was the worst 10 minutes of the weekend.
Quartararo also mentioned that he’s struggling to improve his lap times with new soft tires at certain tracks this year, including Barcelona, and he doesn’t know why.
He said, “I don’t understand why I can’t go faster on a new tire. On our regular pace, we were fast, but on new tires, we can’t seem to improve much.”
Meanwhile, Alex Rins made progress by changing his bike setup. Yamaha also introduced a new aerodynamic package for both riders, which showed some improvements, especially in braking for Quartararo and cornering for Rins.
However, the low-grip nature of the Barcelona track minimized the benefits of the new aerodynamic package, according to Rins. He estimated its potential to be around 0.2 seconds per lap, which could make a significant difference over the course of a race.
