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“What the hell am I doing here?”: Yamaha MotoGP struggles getting to one rider
US MotoGP struggles left one Yamaha rider questioning himself
Alex Rins admits he felt “useless” on his Yamaha during the US Grand Prix weekend, leading to the MotoGP race winner to question “what the hell am I doing here?”
Yamaha is in the middle of a rebuild as it evolves its new V4 project at the start of the 2026 MotoGP season.
But the Japanese brand is already in crisis, with leading rider Fabio Quartararo deciding pre-season to leave for Honda next year, while after three rounds it has just nine points in the constructors’ standings.
The recent US Grand Prix continued Yamaha’s troubles, as all four riders occupied the final four places in the classification.
Alex Rins qualified last at COTA and finished last in the grand prix, 38.701s from the win but also over 10 seconds from the next Yamaha in front of him, which was team-mate Quartararo.
Cutting a dejected figure after the grand prix, Rins spoke of the technical issues he battled throughout the US Grand Prix weekend.
But these issues, coupled with the M1’s poor form, left his motivation in tatters.
“Seeing all four Yamahas in the back of the pack isn’t great,” he said at COTA, as reported by GPOne.
“It’s not that I was exactly surprised, but I said to myself, ‘Wow, we’re all here?’
“Up until the eighth lap, the bike wouldn’t respond when I opened the throttle coming out of Turns 1 and 11.
“It was fine on some laps; on others, I felt this problem.”
He added: “During my second run in pre-qualifying, the bike wasn’t working.
“I was going wide at every corner. I couldn’t turn, change direction, or do anything, and I felt useless on the bike.
“I said to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ There are moments when I’m not enjoying myself, and I ended up asking myself, ‘What are we doing?’
Rins’ comments come after team-mate Quartararo told French television at COTA that Yamaha doesn’t know how to fix any of the problems it has with the V4 M1.
During the Thai Grand Prix weekend, after the brand pulled its riders from race day media duties, Yamaha boss Paolo Pavesio said that the marque has a “mountain to climb”.
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US MotoGP struggles left one Yamaha rider questioning himself
Alex Rins admits he felt “useless” on his Yamaha during the US Grand Prix weekend, leading to the MotoGP race winner to question “what the hell am I doing here?”
Yamaha is in the middle of a rebuild as it evolves its new V4 project at the start of the 2026 MotoGP season.
But the Japanese brand is already in crisis, with leading rider Fabio Quartararo deciding pre-season to leave for Honda next year, while after three rounds it has just nine points in the constructors’ standings.
The recent US Grand Prix continued Yamaha’s troubles, as all four riders occupied the final four places in the classification.
Alex Rins qualified last at COTA and finished last in the grand prix, 38.701s from the win but also over 10 seconds from the next Yamaha in front of him, which was team-mate Quartararo.
Cutting a dejected figure after the grand prix, Rins spoke of the technical issues he battled throughout the US Grand Prix weekend.
But these issues, coupled with the M1’s poor form, left his motivation in tatters.
“Seeing all four Yamahas in the back of the pack isn’t great,” he said at COTA, as reported by GPOne.
“It’s not that I was exactly surprised, but I said to myself, ‘Wow, we’re all here?’
“Up until the eighth lap, the bike wouldn’t respond when I opened the throttle coming out of Turns 1 and 11.
“It was fine on some laps; on others, I felt this problem.”
He added: “During my second run in pre-qualifying, the bike wasn’t working.
“I was going wide at every corner. I couldn’t turn, change direction, or do anything, and I felt useless on the bike.
“I said to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ There are moments when I’m not enjoying myself, and I ended up asking myself, ‘What are we doing?’
Rins’ comments come after team-mate Quartararo told French television at COTA that Yamaha doesn’t know how to fix any of the problems it has with the V4 M1.
During the Thai Grand Prix weekend, after the brand pulled its riders from race day media duties, Yamaha boss Paolo Pavesio said that the marque has a “mountain to climb”.
Alex Rins admits he felt “useless” on his Yamaha during the US Grand Prix weekend, leading to the MotoGP race winner to question “what the hell am I doing here?”
Yamaha is in the middle of a rebuild as it evolves its new V4 project at the start of the 2026 MotoGP season.
But the Japanese brand is already in crisis, with leading rider Fabio Quartararo deciding pre-season to leave for Honda next year, while after three rounds it has just nine points in the constructors’ standings.
The recent US Grand Prix continued Yamaha’s troubles, as all four riders occupied the final four places in the classification.
Alex Rins qualified last at COTA and finished last in the grand prix, 38.701s from the win but also over 10 seconds from the next Yamaha in front of him, which was team-mate Quartararo.
Cutting a dejected figure after the grand prix, Rins spoke of the technical issues he battled throughout the US Grand Prix weekend.
But these issues, coupled with the M1’s poor form, left his motivation in tatters.
“Seeing all four Yamahas in the back of the pack isn’t great,” he said at COTA, as reported by GPOne.
“It’s not that I was exactly surprised, but I said to myself, ‘Wow, we’re all here?’
“Up until the eighth lap, the bike wouldn’t respond when I opened the throttle coming out of Turns 1 and 11.
“It was fine on some laps; on others, I felt this problem.”
He added: “During my second run in pre-qualifying, the bike wasn’t working.
“I was going wide at every corner. I couldn’t turn, change direction, or do anything, and I felt useless on the bike.
“I said to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ There are moments when I’m not enjoying myself, and I ended up asking myself, ‘What are we doing?’
Rins’ comments come after team-mate Quartararo told French television at COTA that Yamaha doesn’t know how to fix any of the problems it has with the V4 M1.
During the Thai Grand Prix weekend, after the brand pulled its riders from race day media duties, Yamaha boss Paolo Pavesio said that the marque has a “mountain to climb”.
[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/motogp/news/1092886/1/what-hell-am-i-doing-here-yamaha-motogp-struggles-getting-one-rider”]