Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis says the Iwata marque's tough 2018 MotoGP campaign, during which it entered its longest losing streak, was a “consequence” of mistakes made “two years ago”.
Yamaha went 25 races between Valentino Rossi's win at Assen last year and Maverick Vinales' Phillip Island success without scoring a victory – its longest dry spell in its premier class history.
Both Rossi and Vinales – who finished the campaign third and fourth in the standings – struggled all year with the M1's engine and electronics, and high tyre wear as a result, which were issues plaguing them throughout '17 also.
When asked during a special press conference for team bosses in Valencia, Jarvis said there was “no single mistake” made with the M1 this year, and that the troubles his team faced were down to “not getting to grips” with problems it faced with the bike during the first tests at the end of '16.
“Big mistake, I would say no single mistake [was made in 2018],” Jarvis said.
“I think not getting to grips to truly understand the problem two years ago was the mistake.
“So everything that happened this season was a consequence of not taking the right decisions in the past.
“And I think in the middle of the season finally became very clear what we have to do. But we are behind our competitors, in particular considerably behind Ducati I think and also Honda.”
Yamaha ended the '18 season third in the manufacturers' standings 94 points adrift of winners Honda, marking its first season finishing outside of the top two constructor places since '07.
Rossi agreed with Jarvis' comments, the Italian adding Yamaha tried to fix its problems “not with the right stuff.”
“Yeah, for me at the end of 2016 we had some problems, some issues,” said Rossi.
“We were strong, but we suffer already with the tyre, and it looks like also the other manufacturers in that moment make some big steps.
“But unfortunately we tried to fix this problem not with the right stuff. We tried to work on the chassis, on the weight distribution, when for me we have to work in other areas like the electronics and the engine.
“So, yeah, I agree.”
