The last great contribution of the Japanese constructors to the high competition of MotoGP was the ‘ seamless ‘ gearbox, introduced by Honda in 2011 . At the time it was a groundbreaking innovation. However, the system, which allowed seamless gear changes, had been used in Formula 1 for years and the HRC engineers simply adapted it to the bikes.
Before the end of that same year, Ducati had managed to copy the seamless pattern and introduce it into its prototypes, although not completely. The Italians needed more than a year to perfect the change; Yamaha did not have it until 2013 , although it took time to finish polishing it, while the rest of the manufacturers could not finish developing it until two years later.
The synergy between the engineering departments of both sports within Honda facilitated the incorporation of an element from F1. From then on, the look of the two-wheel engineers was more often directed towards the ‘other’ paddock, with the intention of importing new solutions that would increase the performance of the motorcycles, aerodynamics being the most explored field, especially all for Ducati. In this transition, the Japanese constructors went from taking the initiative to being in tow of the Europeans.
In recent years, in addition to those ideas, some teams went a little further and directly imported the talent and knowledge of F1. The clearest example is that of Aprilia , which at the end of 2018 announced the arrival of Massimo Rivola , an executive who had played the role of sports director at Ferrari, where he had come from Toro Rosso, as CEO of the house’s racing department. of Noale.
Since the arrival of the Italian, Aprilia has gone from being an inconsequential team in the world championship to fighting for the title with one of the best bikes on the grid. Chance? Nope.
With the hiring of Rivola, the technical director, Romano Albesiano , was able to focus on development, forgetting about the management and organization of the team. In addition, the former Ferrari sporting director implemented structural changes and hired consultants with proven F1 experience, such as renowned engineer and former Ferrari engine chief Luca Marmorini .
After leaving Maranello, Marmorini set up an office with which he intended to help develop engines for racing cars. However, one of his greatest successes has been his collaboration in the growth of the RS-GP , which, in the eyes of most, is the most balanced bike on the grid. Now it has been Yamaha who has tied Marmorini up to try to rescue those horses that Fabio Quartararo claims so much.
“It’s good and it’s bad. On the one hand, these components make us go faster and faster. But on the other hand, they make our sport much more complicated,” replied Quartararo, when asked by Motorsport.com if it was positive that MotoGP look decidedly towards F1.
The 2021 world champion admits that, when it comes to development, Japanese houses have lost their footing compared to European ones.
“Basically the Italian brands, which are the best at introducing these ‘gadgets’, always try to fine-tune to the maximum and go to the limit of the rules. They are playing their cards very well and have taken a step forward if we compare them with the Japanese”, Yamaha commented.
Ducati has also set its sights on F1, especially in a field as complex as aerodynamics. With the signing of Gigi Dall’Igna (2014), one of the technical eminences of the championship, the Italian house took a very significant leap in development, but already before Dall’Igna, in Borgo Panigale they looked askance at F1, and they even hired a former Ferrari engineer, Max Bartolini .
“I think it’s good to look at F1. Everything that helps us improve potential and gain performance is positive and adds up, so it seems good to me,” Pecco Bagnaia admitted, when asked the same question as Quartararo.
However, the Italian differs from the French in reference to whether the Japanese manufacturers have ‘asleep’ before the advance of the Europeans.
“Yamaha leads the World Championship, last year it won the championship and in 2020 it was won by a Suzuki. So, at the moment, the Japanese brands are winning. Surely the European ones are improving, but something is still missing,” warns the head of Ducati poster, a team that has not celebrated the title since 2007, with Casey Stoner , its only champion.
Analytical and reflective, Andrea Dovizioso’s is always an opinion that must be taken into account. For him, it is enough to take a look at the time tables and the large number of candidates that there are every Sunday to get on the podium, to conclude one thing: “In recent years, MotoGP has become a championship in which the engineers have gained much more weight than they had before. And in that context it helps a lot to bring technicians of the caliber of those from F1, it’s the direction we’ve been going for years”, Dovi pointed out to the person who signs these lines.
“The bikes are now ridden differently; many aspects have been introduced that help the rider, because the engineers have completely taken the initiative in the projects. You have to recognize that the change works. Like it or not, it is like that,” he fits the one who was three times runner-up in MotoGP with Ducati, where he starred in many clashes with Dall’Igna for the direction in the development of the Desmosedici .
It may seem circumstantial, but there is data that proves how unpredictable MotoGP has become with the greater incidence of engineers, whose impact subtracts some relevance from the rider. In the last three years, three different riders have won the title with three different bikes: Marc Márquez (Honda) in 2019, Joan Mir (Suzuki) in 2020 and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) in 2021, something that had not happened since the period between 2006 and 2008, with Nicky Hayden (Honda), Casey Stoner (Ducati) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Never in history have four different riders and brands managed to win the premier class in four consecutive courses, something that could happen if Aleix Espargaró is crowned with Aprilia this time.
Another clear change in trend: between 2019 and 2022 up to 15 drivers have been able to win a Grand Prix, something that was unthinkable a few years ago, when. For example, between 2013 and well into 2016, all the victories were shared by Márquez, Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
The stopwatch, for the rest, reflects that the differences are becoming tighter. Just take a look at the time table of any training session in recent seasons to prove it. And that can be extrapolated to Sundays. As data, Aleix Espargaró crossed the ninth of the 2019 Argentine Grand Prix, more than 25 seconds behind Márquez, the winner. In this exercise, the margin between the winner (Aleix) and the ninth (Marco Bezzecchi) was only 12 seconds, and that #41 used half a minute less than Márquez (2019) to complete the test.
And what do they think on the other side of the thread? Motorsport.com spoke to a highly experienced ex-Ferrari engineer to understand if it’s good for MotoGP to look at Formula 1.
“In F1 there are some areas that are much more advanced than in MotoGP. From aerodynamics, engines, transmission, suspensions or simply the management of working groups of engineers from different areas. In MotoGP, the dimensions of the teams are smaller” explains this renowned technician.
In addition to the budgets, one of the shortcomings of MotoGP compared to F1 is the size of the teams, which means that there is less specialization, and that some members of the troop have to do a bit of everything. And this is one of the points that the former Ferrari engineer highlights when asked what F1 staff and talent can bring to the table.
“Above all, experience in other technologies and specialization. An F1 team is made up of 1,500 people and a MotoGP team is much smaller. Knowing how to manage these people, putting them in the areas that are necessary, and ensuring that no one steps on or harm the other, it is something important in F1 and it will be vital in MotoGP as soon as the teams grow. All the F1 teams went through this learning when they grew up, “he explains.
The MotoGP prototypes are extremely sophisticated, nobody doubts that, but there are still elements that could be improved.
“MotoGP has been adapting F1 technologies in recent years. Seamless changes have been in F1 since 2005. Pneumatic valves have been in F1 for more than 30 years. 20 years ago, when F1 engines were naturally aspirated, they already gave more than 300 horses per liter. There is a lot of technology that can be passed from one side to the other”, suggests this engineer.
And without forgetting the aspect that has grown the most and transformed MotoGP the most in recent years: aerodynamics . Despite this, in the view of most F1 experts, that field is still in its infancy in MotoGP.
“This area is small in MotoGP, but decisive in F1. The transfer of technology can be enormous; from how to use CFD (computational fluid dynamics), to how to work in the wind tunnel. In an F1 team there are 120 people only dedicated to aerodynamics, divided into work groups. In MotoGP it is a small group that is in charge of the entire bike. The experience and the mistakes already made in F1, can be decisive in saving time in MotoGP”, insists this engineer.
It’s not about copying Formula 1, it’s not about converting MotoGP into two-wheeled F1. It is about taking advantage of the years of experience, organization and technology that the car championship has ahead of the motorcycle championship to extract the best, saving steps and avoiding making the same mistakes.
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