Alex Rins: “I saw Aprilia at Ducati’s level and Honda improving a lot” - Exclusive

When Alex Rins returned home from MotoGP weekends and reviewed the races, what did he see?

That was the question put to the Monster Yamaha rider during an interview with Crash.net at the Valencia season finale.

“What I saw is that the Aprilia improves a lot. It goes to the level of the Ducati,” Rins replied.

“And Honda really improves a lot. What Johann [Zarco] was doing in the beginning of the season, then Marini and Mir now. They are achieving great results.

“So it looks like right now we are a little bit on the back. But nothing in the future is written.”

While Ducati swept the triple crown with the riders’, constructors’ and teams’ titles, Aprilia closed the year with three wins from the final four grands prix after Marc Marquez’s injury.

Honda climbed out of the lowest D concession band by securing 285 constructor points, their best haul since 2019.

Yamaha, meanwhile, returned to the podium with Fabio Quartararo and should have won the British Grand Prix. 

But the Inline machine’s results deteriorated, and the factory increasingly switched focus to its new V4 machine, which will debut in 2026.

“They improved the bike a bit this season, but they were more focused on the V4 project,” Rins confirmed.

The final decision to commit to the V4 design was strengthened by consistent feedback from Yamaha’s four race-winning riders, all highlighting the same limitations with the Inline machine, especially a lack of rear grip.

“It's helpful to have four different riders, and four different riding styles, complaining more or less the same, so we can give a hand to them to work in a specific way,” said Rins.

The Spaniard, who delivered the final Inline-powered MotoGP victory during Suzuki’s farewell at Valencia 2022, suggested Yamaha had reached the limit of what the current engine could deliver.

“Time flies and you need to always be improving the bikes,” Rins said.

“What is true is that Yamaha tried many things to improve this engine, and maybe they arrived at the top of its development; they cannot find anything more.

“So, for this reason, they chose to change the engine to see if they can perform more.”

Speaking just before his latest Yamaha V4 appearance during post-race testing at Valencia, Rins added:

“It's a new project so every time we jump on the bike, we will test something different. So let's see what they bring here and for Sepang [in February].”