THE Movistar Yamaha MotoGP squad revealed its new livery for the 2018 world championship season in a lavish launch in Madrid, Spain.
Retaining Yamaha’s traditional racing blue, albeit in a deeper shade, the biggest change is to do with the logo of primary sponsor Movistar.
The Spanish telco’s logo has shifted away from its traditional lime green for its fifth season as the team’s primary sponsor, the white ‘M’ making for a much sleeker, cleaner design for the M1s to be raced by Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales in 2018.
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Monster Energy remains with the team along with its usual secondary and tertiary sponsors, while another regional Yamaha slogan will adorn the bike at points in 2018.
Following the lead of its Indonesian (Semakin Di Depan, or ‘One Step Ahead’), Vietnamese (Go Beyond) and Philippine (Blue is Fast) operations, Thailand will be featured on this year’s Yamaha, aligning with the country’s inaugural MotoGP race in October at the Chang International Circuit.
The new look will have its debut this weekend in Malaysia, where the first official preseason test gets underway on Sunday at the Sepang Circuit.
Scroll down for more photos of the 2018 Movistar Yamaha livery!
Images of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: SuppliedImages of the new Movistar Yamaha MotoGP livery for 2018. Pic: YamahaSource: Supplied
Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha won an epic Doha MotoGP on Sunday that saw the closest top 15 finish in history.
Just 8.928 seconds separated Quartararo and the 15th-placed Miguel Oliveira, beating the previous record of 15.093.
Quartararo’s French compatriot Johann Zarco of Ducati-Pramac finishing second.
Spanish rookie Jorge Martin, the teammate of Zarco, was third after starting the race on pole position.
It was the first time two French riders had been on the podium in the sport’s elite class since 1954 when Pierre Monneret won and Jacques Collot was third on home soil in Reims.
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Quartararo joked modestly that he “will enjoy the moment with a nice McDonald’s tonight” following his win.
“It is easy to say I’ve not won a lot of races — but wow!” he added. “I came from eighth, the pace and track were totally different from the fourth practice and warm-up.
“I always dreamt to win in Qatar, unfortunately I was not the first (this season).” Zarco’s second-place finish was enough to put him on top of the world championship after two rounds.
He has 40 points with Quartararo in second, just four points behind.
– ‘Happy for both of them’ –
“I was pretty happy that Jorge (Martin) took the pace, after half a race he had the pace — but I was still able to stay behind him,” Zarco said.
“He was so clean in the style. It was this situation in four laps to the end, Fabio came in the right place to overtake Jorge.
“I tried to overtake Fabio but I could not pass him.
“I’m so happy for both of them — victory of a French rider and podium for a teammate.” Spain’s Alex Rins, on a Suzuki, and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, the winner of the season-opening Qatar MotoGP on the same Losail track last week, filled out the top five.
Vinales had an eventful race after a poor start and his frustration was visible after the chequered flag fell.
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Valentino Rossi, the seven-time MotoGP world champion, was 16th on the Yamaha-SRT, after starting in 21st place, the Italian’s worst ever qualifying performance.
Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia, on a Ducati, defending world champion Joan Mir of Spain on a Suzuki, South Africa’s Brad Binder, of KTM, Australia’s Jack Miller, on a Ducati, and Spanish Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro completed the top 10.
Miller had a second ninth-place finish in as many weeks despite a strong showing in free practice, with a bump with Mir dominating his race.
The two exchanged words heatedly for the duration of the subsequent straight. Martin was visibly delighted with the result, describing it as “a difficult race — I am a rookie!”.
“I think I did a really mature race. The passing was so difficult, if it was another rider (than Zarco) I would have taken him back for sure.
“I’m happy with third position, my first podium finish.”
Rookie Martin claims pole, Miller fourth
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Britain’s Sam Lowes won his second Moto2 race in Qatar in as many weeks. Completing 20 laps in 39 minutes 52.702 seconds, Kalex-rider Lowes pipped Australia’s Remy Gardner by 0.190 seconds.
Spain’s Raul Fernandez finished third, 3.371 seconds off the pace.
“The wind was there so it was easy to stay behind but when I got to the front it was hard to pull away because of the wind,” Lowes said.
Spanish teenager Pedro Acosta defied the odds to win the Moto3 race after starting in the pit lane following a penalty.
It was the 16-year-old KTM rider’s first world championship victory, having finished second in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix last week.
He beat Darryn Binder into second place and leads the South African by nine points in the early riders’ standings.
Aussie Jack Miller has been hailed the “hero” of the MotoGP Doha Grand Prix qualifying after surviving what a rival described “the scariest moment I’ve ever seen.”
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was behind Miller in the final stages of Q2 when the Australian had what he described as a “massive moment.”
It was not caught on camera but Quartararo was shocked.
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Rookie Martin claims pole, Miller fourth
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“I think it’s the scariest moment I’ve ever seen in MotoGP,” he said, per motorsport.com.
“When I saw that he improved the lap later, I can say – to be polite – [he has] big balls.”
He added it was a “shame” it was not on TV, praising it as one of the “biggest saves” he had seen.
“For me, he’s just amazing how he can reset and make that lap time at the end,” he added.
“So, he is the hero of today because he was really close to having a big one today and it was really scary from behind. Yesterday’s was nothing compared to what he had today. He made that but three or four times longer, and faster shaking.”
ROOKIE’S STUNNING POLE POSITION
Spanish rookie Jorge Martin, riding for Ducati-Pramac, claimed a shock pole position for the Doha MotoGP on Saturday in just his second appearance in the sport’s elite class but wrote off his chances of winning Sunday’s race.
Martin is joined on the front row by teammate Johann Zarco of France and Spain’s Maverick Vinales, the Yamaha rider who won the season opener at the same Losail track last weekend.
“My last lap was on the limit,” said the 23-year-old.
“Every day I improve… I’ve been here with the team for one month and I already feel at home.
He added: “It’s incredible. I didn’t expect to be on pole, rather fourth or fifth.
“Tomorrow will be a new day to learn. It will not be my day to win. A top six place will be incredible.”
The paddock lined up to congratulate Martin who high-fived his team as he rode past, setting the stage for an unpredictable second race of the season from 1700 GMT Sunday.
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As a Moto 3 stalwart, and champion in 2018, Martin was on pole 19 times in 2017 and 2018.
“I’m pretty happy. Below 1 minute 53 was a pretty good target for the first row,” said second-placed Zarco.
“When I saw that Martin was on pole I was pretty surprised and also happy. It’s going too perfectly for us at Pramac.”
Third-placed Vinales said “the front row is very difficult, for tomorrow I have nothing planned. I’ll go out and try to make a fast race, we will see”.
Miller, on a factory Ducati, was fifth ahead of Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia who had been on pole last week.
Italy’s Franco Morbidelli, of Yamaha-SRT, who struggled in 18th place at the Qatar MotoGP last Sunday, was 10th in qualifying on Saturday.
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There was disappointment for seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi as the 42-year-old Italian qualified in 21st place on the other Yamaha-SRT, the second slowest time on the grid.
Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez is still out with a fractured arm after falling last summer.
In the Moto2, Britain’s Sam Lowes, of Kalex, who won last weekend, will be on pole, with Australian Remy Gardner and Italy’s Marco Bezzecchi completing the front three, also on Kalex machines.
Spain’s Jaume Masia of KTM took pole in Moto 3 with countryman Jeremy Alcoba and Argentina’s Gabriel Rodrigo, both on Hondas, joining him at the front.
The renewed season is taking place amid strict coronavirus prevention measures that have included a bio bubble for participants and the offer of vaccines to anyone in the paddock.
As Daniel Ricciardo settles into another new season at another new team, his old employer appears to be in its best position since 2013 following another marked improvement from its Honda power unit.
Red Bull has been dominated by Mercedes since 2014, which coincided with the beginning of F1’s hybrid era and the moment Ricciardo was promoted to the team.
After years of poor performance from its Renault power unit, Red Bull switched to Honda at the end of 2018 — but saw Ricciardo walk out of the door to its engine manufacturer’s works team.
Now, after two seasons of progress, the Honda power unit is “very, very close” to that of Mercedes, according to Franz Tost, team boss of Red Bull sister team, AlphaTauri.
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Honda — which will hand the power unit’s development keys to Red Bull at the end of the season — introduced a new engine in 2021 which is smaller and more powerful.
“I must say Honda did a fantastic job in Sakura, because this new power unit is much more powerful and better drivable as it was in the past,” Tost told motorsport.com.
“I think that Honda is really very, very close to Mercedes. And I can only say thank you to the Japanese engineers, because they did a fantastic job.”
Max Verstappen was certainly reaping the benefits at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, where he claimed pole but narrowly lost the race to Lewis Hamilton by less than a second.
He had at one stage taken the race lead but was forced to give back the position for exceeding track limits — something which Hamilton was found to have done 29 times at Turn 4 without penalty.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo finished seventh, although it was revealed after the race that he had damage to the floor of his car after contact with Pierre Gasly.
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His McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, finished fourth — but was more than 45 seconds adrift of Hamilton and Verstappen.
Ricciardo opted to join McLaren at the end of 2020, saying he felt the team was in a better position than Renault as F1’s seismic rule changes in 2022 draw near.
McLaren has made strong progress over the past two years and is considered F1’s third-best team; a label it hopes to solidify this season after signing a contract to use Mercedes power units.
The pace of Red Bull and Verstappen, however, would suggest Ricciardo could be competing for race wins if he had stayed put.
Nonetheless, there is hope that next year’s technical and sporting regulations will play into his hands long term.
