Bartolini’s first interview as Yamaha technical director
Massimo Bartolini has been for years one of the reference people in the development of Desmosedicilast winter he decided to accept the challenge Yamaha, becoming the new technical director. The goal is to bring the M1 back to the front and, after the first months of work, he took stock of the situation on Sky Sport’s microphones: “I am very happy to be here in Yamaha. After 20 years of Ducati it takes some time to get used to, but everyone welcomed me very well. It’s a different environment, the cultures are different: I’ve always worked in Italian companies, it’s the first time I’ve worked in a Japanese company. But so far I’ve felt very good. We are all quite aware that we have a lot of things to do. The positive thing is that we have in our heads what needs to be done: it is clear that there is a bit of a difference between having it in our heads and putting it into practice. But overall we have identified areas where we can improve. A delay of 7-8 tenths takes time to recover and is distributed somewhat over all areas. We’re working on it, we’re producing some material and we’re trying to put together my (purely European) experience and that of Yamaha: combining the good of both working methods to try to close the gap in a reasonable time.”
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“It is essential to have a satellite team”
What is Yamaha missing today to fight for victory? Bartolini explains: “In some fields they may have underestimated the impact of the new aspects that the Europeans have developed, in particular Ducati but also KTM and Aprilia. This has been understood and we are looking to invest. It’s clear that if you start a year later to invest heavily in some areas, you need some time to reduce the gap”. One of the objectives for 2025 will be to have two more bikes on the track: “With such a demanding championship, even if you have the concessions and can let the official riders run, you manage to run them very little: first of all they are men and they have to recover, it is impossible to make them drive continuously. And then it’s still difficult with such limited time. It would be essential to have a satellite team, to try to carry out more things with more riders. And also for the riders themselves, to have comparisons and better regulate their choices and areas where they can improve.”
Bartolini’s adaptation to Yamaha
After many years spent at Ducati, I now have to do another type of job: “I’m trying to understand how Yamaha works, to take advantage of the strong points that are there anyway, even if it doesn’t seem like it from the times (laughs, ed.). We are then trying to understand what can be done: it is clear that, as long as the engine architecture remains different, the bike is radically different. And therefore many concepts that were used in Ducati, especially vehicle concepts, are very difficult to apply here. But many others are common and can be transported: I’m thinking of aerodynamic balances or the way of working on electronics, which can be updated and improved compared to how we are now”. The process is long: “From one to ten I think it’s a difficulty nine (laughs, ed.). But racing is like that: we don’t let ourselves be scared, otherwise we would do something else. I go from one meeting to another like a pinball, it’s a characteristic I also had among Italians. In the end the Japanese are getting used to it…”
