Yamaha spent Wednesday in the garage after a mechanical problem.

There's no point in looking for the Yamahas, factory or Pramac, on Wednesday's timesheets, as the YZR-M1s simply didn't take to the track at Sepang. This presents an additional challenge for a brand that has to get to grips with a new motorcycle, now featuring a V4 engine that has replaced the inline four-cylinder. Its star rider, fabio quartararoHe was injured in a fall on Tuesday, and it was indirectly he who caused the "withdrawal" of the tuning fork brand on Wednesday.

"On Tuesday, Fabio Quartararo had to stop on the track with a problem, and so we investigated where it could have come from."Massimo Bartolini, Yamaha's technical director, stated MotoGP, on the official website of the championship. “We don’t have a clear solution yet; we have an idea, but the safety of our drivers and others is our priority. Therefore, we chose to really understand what the problem was and what to do to fix it before returning to the track. That’s why we didn’t run on Wednesday, but we hope to be able to resolve the issues for Thursday.”

Therefore, there is no guarantee that Jack Miller, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, and Álex Rins will be on track this Thursday, nor is there any guarantee that test riders Andrea Dovizioso and Augusto Fernández will be present. The Yamaha teams in Japan are working tirelessly to help the race team find the cause of the problem, and the Italian teams are joining the effort, given the significant time difference with the Asian teams, both in Sepang and Iwata.

“We are continuing to search for the cause; we are in contact with the teams in Japan, and the teams in Italy will be joining us. We know what the problem was, but we are still looking for what caused it. We have an idea, but we need confirmation from the factory.”

Yamaha was able to rely on its full-time riders last week during the three days of Shakedown organized by the championship. The other manufacturers had to make do with their test riders and rookie Diogo Moreira (at Honda), but as the only Tier D manufacturer, Yamaha can use its full-time riders in all its test sessions. This advantage allowed the brand to test the majority of its new equipment, but the lost track time on Wednesday would have been useful for fine-tuning the setup of a bike that everyone is still getting to know.

“It would be better to have no problems and be able to use all the available track time, but we were able to test new parts during the Shakedown. Unfortunately, we wanted to use the tests to better understand the bike, which is brand new, and to fine-tune its setup. We mainly used the Shakedown to test new parts, and in those conditions, it's difficult for the riders to push to their full potential. So the plan was to use these last two days to fine-tune the package and let the riders ride.”