Honda had a very difficult year in 2023, when Álex Rins had the biggest moment in terms of race results, winning the GP of the Americas. With the move to Yamaha, which has been «Quartararo-dependent», the question remains: will the Spaniard be the able to get his new team back on track to the winning ways, again?
With Suzuki’s farewell at the end of 2022, Rins moved to LCR Honda, after his then teammate Joan Mir moved to the factory team, and with the Japanese manufacturer far from its best, the results were never as expected, coupled with an injury that forced him to take a prolonged absence from the track.
The race in Austin was remarkable, but the rest of the season with Honda was not, with the driver always having a clear desire to return to a factory team. The opportunity would come later: the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team.
As with Honda, Yamaha is also suffering from a lack of competitiveness and results that could put them on the winning trail and even further away from competing with Ducati at the moment.
Rins’ first (and only) victory – and Honda’s – in 2023 came early on, at the third round of the World Championship, but the rider will have another chance to return to the big stage in 2024.
The unknown at the moment is under what conditions Yamaha’s development work will take place, and while Quartararo has already shown himself to be enthusiastic on the one hand, the truth is that his feelings are (once again) related to the expectation of what might happen, and not so much to what he already felt during the tests in Valencia at the end of the season, in terms of the M1’s performance.
Still a few months away from the official start of the season, we’ll see what might happen, but whether Rins can repeat what he did at Honda or not, that is a question yet to be answered.