The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team recently unveiled its 2021 Yamaha M1 livery for this season together with Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo. Although the bikes look identical to the ones used last year, Quartararo adds a new fresh face into the whole mix as he switched places with Valentino Rossi.

The Petronas Yamaha SRT squad will be launching its livery in the near future together with their star riders, Rossi and Franco Morbidelli, but the question remains around how they will come up with a competitive package going into 2021. Based on what the factory team manager has stated, Yamaha will be moving a few steps backwards in order to push forward for this season’s assault campaign.

In other words, the 2021 Yamaha M1 will be a mixture between last year’s prototype and a slightly dated machine that was ridden by Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli. The 2021 Yamaha machinery is said to be an easier bike to ride in all riding conditions and both teams are eager to test out some new and old parts during the Qatar test sessions next month.

Yamaha’s R&D team has been working hard to develop brand new parts such as the swingarm, chassis, exhaust, aero parts, and many more. What they’re trying to accomplish is somewhere similar to the Yamaha M1 used in 2016, which is said to be within the vicinity of Morbidelli’s bike used last year.

Moving in the opposite direction might just remedy Yamaha’s issue in conquering different tracks throughout the season, but it won’t be an easy task to accomplish considering the fact that other manufacturers like Suzuki, Ducati, Honda, and KTM are proving themselves to be worthy adversaries. More details will come to light once the testing sessions commence in March.

Image credit: MotoGP