Technical Director Max Bartolini admits Yamaha “took the difficult route” to make sure its V4 engine was ready for the 2026 MotoGP season.
Yamaha has elected to use its recently developed V4 engine for the new campaign, following three wildcard appearances by Augusto Fernandez, marking a massive change from its original Inline4.
However, Bartolini revealed before the season opener in Buriram that Yamaha had not anticipated some of the major differences between the two engines.
The Italian engineer also suggested that these problems forced them to take “the difficult route” to avoid these challenges in 2026.
“Yamaha has a great deal of experience with the inline four-cylinder engine,” Bartolini told SPEEDWEEK.com.
“With the V4, everything is different, such as the bike’s temperature, fuel consumption, and oil temperature.
“You have to keep an eye on so many areas, which is what makes it so difficult.
“It was a major challenge for us to compete in three events with wildcard entries last season.
“We took the difficult route to avoid such challenging situations this season.”
Bartolini also revealed some of Yamaha’s plans for the new engine regulations, which will reduce engine size from 1000cc to 850cc.
The Italian engineer admitted that the 2026 season will almost be a trial run to understand and “build the right bike” around its engine ahead of 2027.
“The 850 is in many ways a sibling of our current engine,” explained Bartolini.
“We will change some parts because it’s gradually becoming clear that we can do things differently.
“But the basic concept of the engine is very similar. From the outside, it seems crazy that we built a 1000cc V-twin for just one year.
“But that gives us the opportunity to understand this engine and build the right bike around it.”
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