Why Yamaha deserves credit for sending its V4 out to race at Misano

Last month, in the wake of Yamaha’s disastrous Austrian Grand Prix, this column called for the manufacturer to unleash its new V4 on a race weekend as soon as possible.

Those words, however, were written more in hope than expectation. The Iwata marque had been cautiously and secretively developing the V4 since 2024. At no point had it promised to race the bike at all, never mind this season. When pressed, boss Paolo Pavesio’s line had been that the new machine would have to be as quick as the existing in-line four before it would take starter’s orders. A conservative approach seemed cast in stone.

All things considered, then, it was a pleasant surprise to be able to stand at Carro corner and watch Augusto Fernandez win a MotoGP race duel on the V4 just four weeks later.

It’s not often you watch a battle at the very back of the pack with almost as much interest as that going on between the likes of Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi. With respect to Somkiat Chantra, his passages through the slow right-hander would usually have gone unnoticed by most of those looking on. There was a big screen showing that lead scrap for the San Marino GP, after all.

But when Chantra had Fernandez to battle with, he may have felt a few more eyeballs turning his way. That’s the power of a brand new bit of kit. Particularly as we near the end of a MotoGP ruleset and the same old gang wrings the last tenths out of the same old bikes. A challenger at the bottom of a development curve – the path of which remains a mystery – gets the pulse going like iterations and inchings-forward never can.

That’s even more true when it has been made abundantly clear in recent weeks that the premier class is a closed shop as far as teams are concerned. Regular fans who might enjoy a new squad coming from a junior class or left-field will have to get their kicks from F1-style buyouts. So if we’re not going to see proper new teams to shake up the cast, an existing one bringing an alternative bike is all the more worthy of celebration.

The world got a good look at Yamaha's V4 in action at the San Marino Grand Prix

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Racing entirely without sponsorship decals, this one felt like a throwback to the days of local wildcards you’d never heard of. Yamaha is not pretending this is a finished product and is not attempting to wallpaper over the fact that it looks different, sounds different and is different. In the templated world of modern MotoGP, this has considerable charm.

But it’s not just for our benefit, you’d have to think. For engineers, riders and team members alike, this has got to be more engaging than endless simulations and tests. Quartararo had already made no secret of his wish to bring forward the V4’s race debut, which must have played a role in the San Marino GP appearance.

Also, there is arguably brand value in a technology company showing it can run parallel projects featuring different concepts, just for the sake of seeing what works. In MotoGP, perhaps only Yamaha and Honda have the resources to do that. In fact, you could argue that these factories almost owe it to the fans to show off in this way.

Time will tell how far the bike can move up the leaderboard next season, in a year when many will be turning their attention to the 2027 rules

Those old enough to recall the mid-1990s will remember Honda doing just that. Parallel to the all-conquering NSR500 Mick Doohan was riding to five straight world titles, the factory also fielded a v-twin, the NSR500V. Ridden by the likes of Tadayuki Okada, Shinichi Itoh, Sete Gibernau and Takuma Aoki, it took a sensational pole on its debut in 1996. While it never won, it was a seriously competitive machine and always a welcome sideshow. How it might get on at any given circuit was always a talking point.

Sideshows and talking points while Marc Marquez is hoovering up victories at will? These are most welcome – and that’s why nobody but a social media sad sack would offer Yamaha anything but kudos for taking this step. The company could have waited longer to race the V4, sticking to the original plan of making yesterday’s test its first public appearance. But instead of waiting for it to reach NSR500V levels, Yamaha chose to entertain us with something fresh – even though it knew it would be propping up the field.

The willingness to start on the bottom rung of the MotoGP ladder, which Chantra has made his own in his rookie season, and start climbing in public is refreshing all the same. It’s easy to forget that this was what doing motorsport was all about when Yamaha first came on the world championship scene in the early 1960s.

Takuma Aoki rides Honda's twin at the 1997 British Grand Prix

Photo by: Repsol Media

That the machine didn’t set the world alight came as no surprise. Fernandez fell twice before qualifying and ended up with only Chantra behind him on the grid. He cleared the Thai rider early on in the grand prix but a double long lap penalty for a jump start left him with work to do in order to avoid what was last place – disregarding Johann Zarco, who was miles back after an early fall.

If you weren’t Thai or a rabid LCR Honda fan, it was hard not to wish for Fernandez and the V4 to chalk up the project’s first little victory. He duly did so as he caught and passed the rookie, though Chantra was still breathing down his neck at the flag. The television broadcast had little time for their scrap, of course, but for those at the circuit it was the kind of sub-plot that justifies getting off the sofa and seeing the real thing.

And while it’s true that Zarco was out of position and Chantra is, well, Chantra, it’s at least worth noting that the two LCR bikes to finish behind the V4 in its first grand prix were those of Yamaha’s great Japanese rival. Take the positives and all that.

A more realistic yardstick of the relative speed of the two Japanese V4s, of course, came in the form of Luca Marini’s smooth-running factory Honda. Fernandez finished around 44 seconds off Marini in seventh place. Sobering stuff? Or is that pretty much what you’d expect at this stage?

The fact that we don’t know is exactly the beauty of it. Technology’s march means the days of accidentally producing complete duds in motorsport may be behind us forever, which probably rules out a rampant failure but at least allows us to assume the potential is decent. Time will tell how far the bike can move up the leaderboard next season, in a year when many will be turning their attention to the 2027 rules.

In 2026, we’ll learn whether Yamaha’s V4 getting a head start was a useful move. To reflect on an example from Formula 1 history, McLaren gave its TAG-Porsche engine a debut late in 1983. That new motor didn’t exactly rock the establishment in its four races that autumn… but it did go on to clean up both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships in the next two seasons.

While the parallel may be a little too romantic for this era of MotoGP, there will nonetheless be more clues to the Yamaha V4’s realistic potential in its remaining pair of wildcard appearances, in Malaysia and at Valencia. Here’s to looking out for them – however far down the order Fernandez might happen to be running.

Fernandez heads into the unknown at Misano

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP