Why Rins can’t wait for Yamaha’s V4 engine

The tough time Alex Rins is going through since signing with Yamaha – coupled with MotoGP teams rushing to lock in riders from 2027 – means the Spaniard can’t afford to wait for the V4 engine to deliver him tools to perform.

Rins tries to maintain an ever-present smile in front of the media, though for the past two years it must be far harder to keep it up, as that stretch roughly coincides with his stint in Yamaha colours – a move made in good faith.

The deal was signed in a Madrid hospital just before he went into surgery to repair the damage to his right leg, still not fully healed, from the most serious crash of his career at Mugello in 2023.

Whenever he’s asked about the lingering effects of that injury – a double fracture of the tibia and fibula – he insists they only show up in everyday life and that, on the bike, he’s able to perform exactly as he did before the crash.

In the past month and a half his visible limp has improved thanks to a new growth factor treatment he’s receiving at a medical centre in Italy that specialises in treating skiing injuries.

But time is running out for Rins. Or at least, he has much less of it than Fabio Quartararo, who is his garage neighbour and Yamaha’s MotoGP cornerstone.

The results over the two seasons since they’ve been team-mates show the French rider’s superiority with one podium – second place in Jerez this year – plus 13 top-10 finishes and four pole positions. In contrast, Rins’s best result is eighth place at last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, one of only three top-10 finishes, and his best qualifying position was also eighth, at the Catalan GP last season.

Ducati’s dominance – especially the Desmosedici in Marc Marquez’s hands – and the upcoming 2027 technical regulation overhaul have pushed manufacturers to start designing brand-new prototypes for that season. In response to its traction and top speed issues, Yamaha is fully invested in developing a V4 engine, which Iwata-based engineers hope will significantly close the gap between Yamaha’s bike and the competition.

Unfortunately for Rins, he can’t afford to wait for that engine for several reasons. His contract with Yamaha runs until the end of 2026, but his underwhelming performance has already sparked rumours of a possible seat swap and a move to Pramac Yamaha.

Autosport understands that neither the rider nor his management has received any signal from Yamaha executives pointing in that direction. In fact, it’s quite rare for a Japanese team to cut ties with a contracted rider unless there’s a clear catalyst – as happened with Maverick Vinales in 2021. Still, neither party is pretending everything is fine. “There is concern and a real desire for Alex to take a step forward,” says a source close to the Catalan rider.

Rins not only needs to turn things around to secure his spot on the factory team, but a strong response would also boost his chances of staying on the grid in 2027 – assuming that’s what he wants.

Most contracts on the MotoGP grid expire at the end of 2026 but, with teams moving faster and faster, the rider market could be wrapped up by the time the championship returns to Europe next season in late April. That urgency, combined with Rins’s tough run – he’s currently 18th in the standings with 42 points, 60 behind ninth-placed Quartararo – means he needs to send a message when the summer break ends. He must also find a way to work around the M1’s obvious shortcomings, as the bike nears the end of its lifecycle.

Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

“There won’t be many updates,” lamented the former Suzuki and Honda rider in Brno. “Some new fairings in Austria and that’s it. The factory knows what the problem is, but they don’t know what to say.”

It was with Honda, in 2023 at the Americas GP, that he scored the last of his current six MotoGP wins. In the Czech Republic, he finished 15th, 12 seconds behind Quartararo, who took sixth place.

“The difference between Fabio and me is over a single lap,” Rins explained. “He’s able to take pole – he’s got four this year – and he starts much further up.” A perfectly reasonable reflection, but of little help to him right now.