In Jerez, less than two weeks ago, both the current world champion and Lin Jarvis, the director of the fingerboard brand, declared that they were close to being able to finalize the extension of the Frenchman’s contract, who, however, stressed that he had nothing signed yet.
On Monday, the news of the cessation of activities by Suzuki once the current year ended caused a great deal of noise, not only in the garage of the Hamamatsu manufacturer, but also in the rest of the teams, due to the derivatives it may have.
With so much uncertainty and unknowns still open, getting an idea of how next year’s grid will be configured is practically impossible at this point in the film. However, one of the possibilities suggests that Yamaha decides to end its satellite formation, whose motorcycles are currently managed by RNF, the renamed Razlan Razali team, which lost the support of Petronas with a view to this 2022.
The link between the Iwata constructor and RNF was for a single year and expires at the end of the season, and it does not seem easy that the alliance can go much further. Especially if we take into account the poor results achieved so far: Andrea Dovizioso is in 20th position in the general table, with only eight points, two more than Darryn Binder, who is in 21st place.
That, the obligations of Yamaha, which assumes Dovizioso’s salary, and the contacts that Razali has with Aprilia to explore a possible coalition, make the possibility of Yamaha keeping only two units of its M1 in 2023 perfectly feasible.
In any case, this scenario would not alter Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha’s main bet in the fight for the title, and practically the only one considering the difference in performance between him and the rest of the firm’s riders: the second rider from Yamaha in the standings is Franco Morbidelli, his teammate, who is 16th, with only 18 points in his locker, 71 less than the Devil.
“If I stay with Yamaha and if there are only two bikes in 2023, that would not be a problem for me. In fact, right now we are having problems comparing data with the second team, so it would not be a problem,” he agreed. Quartararo.
Aleix Espargaró also spoke about that instability that is perceived in Le Mans, and about the possibility that Aprilia could take over those two Yamaha that would disappear. “ The situation has changed a lot with the departure of Suzuki, and also with the possibility that Yamaha no longer has a satellite team. But at the moment it’s all talks, and you can’t control all that, so it’s better to focus on what’s going on. on the track”, declared Espargaró.
