How Ducati has drawn first blood in the 2022 MotoGP title race

The 2021 MotoGP season was brought to a close on 14 November. And just four days later, the first pre-season test of 2022 commenced at Jerez. After a gruelling 18-round calendar, it really was a case of no rest for the wicked. But while the paddock is weary and looking ahead to the warm embrace of some much-needed time off, the two days of running at Jerez were vitally important in establishing the battles lines for 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant the normal development cycle was virtually non-existent in 2021. All but Aprilia and KTM could start the year with new engines owing to the concession rules, with Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Suzuki racing the previous season with their 2020 engines.

Of course, new items such as chassis, swingarms, ride height devices could be brought in – but given how little wiggle room there now is in MotoGP’s technical regulations courtesy of the spec electronics all manufacturers must run, the rate of development was very small by normal standards given the base bike for the four aforementioned marques was from 2020.

With that said, two of them made massive strides with their bikes this year – and unsurprisingly, they are the two brands who fought for the championship.

Yamaha managed to come into the 2021 campaign with a bike far more consistent and better to ride than the 2020 bike which unravelled Fabio Quartararo’s title bid in quite spectacular fashion, while Ducati managed to iron out the kinks of its 2020 bike to craft arguably the best bike on the grid now.

That is a fact borne out in the fact Ducati riders won seven races (Francesco Bagnaia at Aragon, Misano 1, Algarve and Valencia; Jack Miller at Jerez and Le Mans; Jorge Martin in Styria) while Yamaha won six (five for Fabio Quartararo and one for Maverick Vinales). Ducati riders scored 11 poles in 2021 (six for Bagnaia, four for Martin and one for Johann Zarco) and put a rider on the front row of the grid at all 18 rounds, while Yamaha managed six poles (five for Quartararo, one for Vinales).

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Of course, come the final reckoning it was Quartararo’s consistency over the whole campaign that won him the championship. Bagnaia’s season was hampered by a slight slump in the first half, where he failed to score a podium between the French and Styrian GPs. But he would qualify on the front row at every race from Assen onwards and stand on the podium at all but the British and Emilia Romagna GPs in the second half of the year.

Ducati’s domination of the final two events in Portugal and Valencia, at tracks where conventional wisdom would deem the Desmosedici as unfit to do so, sparked some panic within Quartararo at the end of the Valencia GP – the Frenchman admitting he was “worried” about what Ducati could achieve in 2022.

Yamaha’s main Achilles’ heel is its lack of power compared to the Ducati. This manifested itself at the Algarve GP, when Quartararo struggled to pass Pramac’s Jorge Martin before ultimately crashing out of the race pushing too hard to work around his speed deficit.

PLUS: How Portugal exposed the biggest threat to Quartararo’s MotoGP title defence

"I will not say I’m worried, but of course they [Ducati] look super-fast. We don’t make a step, that’s sure" Fabio Quartararo

Quartararo couldn’t hide his disappointment when the 2022 M1 he jumped on to start the Jerez test was pretty much the same prototype he rode at the two-day Misano test in September.

“Well, we tried a really similar bike as Misano… well, to be honest, it was the bike of Misano,” he said when asked by Autosport what Yamaha rolled out for Jerez. “So, we tried that, we tried more things that are a new swingarm, some electronics, anti-wheelie. But to be honest it was a really similar test as Misano.”

Quartararo ended the test third overall with a 1m37.324s, while Bagnaia was fastest outright with a 1m36.872s. When Autosport asked Quartararo if the worry he felt at Valencia had only worsened after what he’d seen at Jerez, he replied: “Worried, I will not say I’m worried, but of course they look super-fast. We don’t make a step, that’s sure. So, I hope for Sepang to make a step because I tried many things, and I didn’t feel really any improvement.”

Showing the mental fortitude that helped him to his title, Quartararo was keen to point out “I go home like a world champion and I go home to enjoy it.” But Bagnaia goes into his winter break having undoubtedly ruined Christmas for the engineering departments of the rest of the grid.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Having tested a raft of new things, including an engine, aerodynamic fairing and exhaust, Bagnaia felt Ducati were improving on what he feels is “already a perfect bike”.

“The old bike was perfect already and we are improving this perfect bike,” Bagnaia confidently claimed when Autosport asked how relaxed he was going into the winter. “That thing is incredible. The lap time we did and the pace we are doing with the medium tyres and used tyres are incredible. This means Ducati has done a really great job, because to improve a bike that was already fantastic is not easy. For next year we will have a lot more things to try, but there will be something to try in Sepang.”

The 1m36.872s lap Bagnaia set on Friday of the test was done on a medium tyre, and was quicker than the 1m36.960s he set on soft tyres to qualify fourth at the Spanish GP back in May. The grip on offer at the test will have been far greater than during the race weekend, but conversely the wind that battered the Andalusian venue was far stronger.

Bagnaia said Ducati “has all my trust” in its development of the GP22, and “wasn’t surprised” at the arsenal of new parts the Italian marque had trucked from its base in Bologna for him – and its four other GP22 runners – to try. Developing from such a strong base, it’s no wonder the GP22 is already being steered in a good direction.

The base Yamaha is working with is also strong, but it’s lack of new substantial updates – save for a chassis and aero fairing, which Quartararo said of both items he “didn’t feel any improvement” – has made its winter work harder. Next year’s pre-season test schedule consists of just five days of running at Malaysia and the new Mandalika circuit in Indonesia, split by just a week. That leaves no time for major updates to be brought between tests, and in particular means engine specification arguably has to be finalised before Christmas ahead of the pre-race development freeze in Qatar in March.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Jerez isn’t a power circuit, but Quartararo’s deficit to Bagnaia was around 8km/h. That will only swell at tracks with a greater demand on horsepower. For Quartararo, he believes it’s not only the engine where Ducati is nailing the top speed charts.

“It’s quite strange because in Mugello the speed difference is about 10km/h, and here today it was around 10km/h,” the Yamaha rider noted. “So, I don’t understand. I think aerodynamics they have in this bike is massive and I think that we need to work a lot on that area to have a little bit more downforce [to control] the wheelie. I think this is one of the most important things, and for me clearly the old times of the Ducati not turning, it’s like a big bike, for me it doesn’t exist anymore.”

Yamaha can no longer afford to be as lacking as it has been with horsepower. The 2022 grid will feature eight Ducatis – five 2022-spec and three 2021-spec. Not only does the Desmosedici have grunt, but it can deploy it effectively and can corner extremely well now. All of this has led to a rider-friendly package that a much greater spread of riders can reap the rewards from. The Yamaha has proven to be quite the opposite over the last year – somewhat mirroring the old days of Ducati in the late 2000s when only Casey Stoner could be truly competitive on it.

"If I see that they go in a totally different direction, it can affect my future with Yamaha" Fabio Quartararo

But it’s clear that it’s not only on the engine where Yamaha needs to work. Its prime strength in its chassis and its ability to corner well is now being matched by Ducati. And Yamaha has the example of Suzuki to be mindful of too. It similarly had a strong 2020 base to work with on its 2021 bike, but little development work over the winter meant it ended the season without a victory and Joan Mir had no hope of defending his world championship.

The pressure on Yamaha over the winter was already large now it has a riders’ title to defend. But Quartararo has now insisted he will not sign anything for 2023 before he’s seen what Yamaha brings to the table in February at the Sepang test. The rider market will be red hot this winter and Quartararo will be at the centre of it, his management already receiving interest from rival manufacturers. Yamaha wants Quartararo locked down as soon as possible, but it looks like that will very much depend on the efforts of engineering department back at Iwata this winter.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I don't want to sign anything before Malaysia at least: I want to see the evolution of our bike,” Quartararo said. “I think it's normal. I don't think it's normal to sign for 2023 without having started 2022, so I think I know where my value lies. I will wait a little while to see how the team positions itself with Yamaha, especially to see the evolution or not of the new bike in Sepang.

“I am asking for very important things. After that, it's something that if they don't show what I'm asking for, at least that they try and that there is a small improvement, that's good. But if I see that they go in a totally different direction, it can affect my future with Yamaha.”

It would be premature to suggest there is unease within the Yamaha camp heading towards Christmas. But the noises coming out of Ducati after the first test ahead of 2022 are quite stark in their contrast.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images