Yamaha’s V4 MotoGP engine “not quick sufficient,” warns Augusto Fernandez

Yamaha check rider Augusto Fernandez has claimed its V4 engine is “nonetheless not quick sufficient” with the Japanese marque hoping to make use of it for the 2026 MotoGP marketing campaign. 

The organisation has been creating the brand new energy unit since final yr, with Yamaha being the one MotoGP producer to make use of an inline 4 fairly than a V4. 

That has seen a correlation with efficiency as Yamaha, a earlier dominant power, is at present backside of the 2025 constructors’ standings after 11 rounds. 

So Fernandez, who has been entered for this weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, not too long ago accomplished a non-public check on the Brno Circuit to proceed the engine’s growth. 

“It is wanting good, it seems to be very optimistic and every little thing nevertheless it’s nonetheless not quick sufficient,” mentioned Fernandez, who joined Yamaha this yr.

“It is what’s going to determine [the engine] for subsequent yr. Let’s have a look at if within the subsequent months throughout this summer season, we have now some extra exams to attempt to speed up the method and have the bike prepared for the top of the season.

“We have to speed up the method as a result of if we wish to race with the V4 subsequent yr, we nonetheless must do a number of work.

“The final check wasn’t the complete bundle nonetheless, the engine isn’t the complete [power] one. Every little thing is simply very early for every little thing.”

However Fernandez defined that Yamaha engineers on the Japanese manufacturing facility are choosing a extra gradual course of with the event.

“The engine isn’t at its full efficiency from Japan,” he added. “They [the engineers] do not give us all the ability from the engine, but when they perceive the method, it will likely be good.

“Sooner or later, we might want to see which one is quicker when it comes to lap time. It is what’s going to determine [which engine to choose]. It is not a unfavorable, however we simply must see higher lap occasions.

“They wish to perceive it with out breaking it. They provide us [performance] little by little. In Japan, issues are like that. They wish to perceive every little thing very properly. Nothing in opposition to that so long as we have now bike for subsequent yr, nevertheless it’s going properly to this point.”