Quartararo, Rins suffer arm pump from ‘heavy’ Yamaha
Once MotoGP's best-handling bike, the current Yamaha M1 is so hard to turn it is causing arm pump problems for Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.
Monster Yamaha riders Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo both suffered arm pump problems in Sunday’s Spanish MotoGP.
The forearm pain was caused by the ‘heavy’ handling of the M1, with its riders struggling to make the bike turn during 25 laps of the Jerez circuit.
After his Sprint heroics on Saturday, when he progressed from 23rd to 3rd only to be demoted by a tyre pressure penalty, Quartararo could only climb as high as 13th in the grand prix. Then faded to 15th due to the arm pump.
“I didn't manage to get the same start as I had yesterday,” said Quartararo. “We had an issue with rear grip, and then the bike became really physically tiring to ride.
“I had pain in my arm [arm pump] because I was braking too hard, and the last ten laps I was not able to brake anymore, so I had to slow down.
“It was a really tough race, I would say. We are missing a lot on the rear grip and turning, so hopefully in tomorrow's test we can change that.
“I don't expect a big, big step, but hopefully we do find an improvement to feel better on the bike and be faster.”
While Quartararo famously suffered arm pump while leading at Jerez in 2021, prompting surgery, Rins struggled with the same issue on Sunday and revealed he has experienced some arm pump since his first race on the M1 in Qatar.
However, Rins could maintain his pace and inherit 13th from Quartararo.
“Starting from last position was not easy, but we did a better start than yesterday. I recovered some positions, and then I was behind Fabio for almost all the race,” Rins said.
“Then I saw he started to struggle [with arm pump] just like me, and I was able to catch him and overtake him.
“For sure, this is not the result that we want, but this race was important for us because we took a lot of information.
“For tomorrow, we have many items to try. So, let's keep going and let's keep working!”
Team director Massimo Meregalli confirmed: “Our riders had to start from the back of the grid again today, so the race was always going to be difficult.
"On top of that, both Álex and Fabio were struggling with the heaviness of the bike, because in low-grip conditions they have to ride the bike more physically.
“At this track you have to use the throttle and the brakes a lot without any rest, so this made this race even more demanding for them. It was a big fight for them to manage the last third of the race distance.
“There is clearly still a lot of work to do for us, so it's great that we have a test day tomorrow and a whole race weekend's worth of data that we can put to good use.
“We have many new items to try, but we have to prioritise the components that are the most vital, which are aerodynamics, an updated chassis, and some electronics settings.”
