Why Yamaha is sticking with Alex Rins despite bad luck with injuries

(Motorsport-Total.com) – On paper, Alex Rins’ first season with Yamaha was a disaster, plagued by injuries and a struggle to get going on an underperforming bike. Despite this, the Japanese manufacturer has given the Spaniard a two-year contract to keep him until at least 2026.

The reasons for his commitment do not lie in his race results. The performances that Rins has shown since his return from a broken leg in Mugello this year contrast with the trust that Yamaha has placed in him.

The Spaniard was already injured when Yamaha signed him for the coming season in 2023. With the contract extension up to and including 2026, the manufacturer has doubled its bet on him, although he continues to be hampered by injuries.

If we assume that no MotoGP team wants to unnecessarily complicate its job, especially a factory team like Yamaha with multiple world titles, logic suggests that there must be a compelling reason to hold on to a rider who raises more questions than certainties.

These doubts cannot be attributed to Rins’ talent, which has been sufficiently proven in the eight years that the 28-year-old has raced in MotoGP, with six victories and a total of 18 podiums in the premier class.

The doubts arise from the limitations he may have when riding and, consequently, his results – the legacy of his serious accident at Mugello last year in which he shattered his right tibia and fibula in a fall during the sprint race .

Rins has since undergone several surgeries to repair the damage and return him to a state of full health.

Accidents never come at the right time, but it couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the Spaniard as he won the Grand Prix of the Americas at the start of 2023 on a Honda that only Marc Marquez has ever won on.

The rider market was in full swing and it came as a surprise that Rins ended up at Yamaha, especially because at the time of signing the contract there was no rough indication of the physical level of the rider, who was on the sidelines for most of the rest of 2023.

What colleagues particularly appreciate about Rins

His signing raised questions, and his extension a few months ago even more so, especially since Rins was injured again after suffering another fracture to his injured leg and two fractures in his right wrist, which he uses to control the gas, in a bad fall in Assen , suffered.

This put him out of action for the next two races in Germany and Great Britain. Up to this point, Rins had only accumulated eight points in eight Grands Prix, and his best result was a 13th place finish at Portimao and Jerez.

This was in stark contrast to the 39 points that his teammate Fabio Quartararo was able to collect in the same period. Despite all these signs and negative side effects, Yamaha decided to continue signing Rins for not just one, but two years until the end of 2026.

At this point the question arises: what does the Japanese manufacturer see in it? Although it may sound inappropriate, in this case even the driver can understand this question if we look at his most recent numbers.

“The thought is justified because I haven’t been able to show my full potential in the race yet,” admits Rins self-critically. “It would be very selfish to praise myself, but certainly my comments are useful for Yamaha, as is my method of evaluating certain parts of the bike.”

Rins has a strong supporter at Yamaha in Quartararo: “What does Yamaha see in Alex? Well, six wins, podiums and a third place in the 2020 World Championship. He is also a fast rider, one of the fastest, although he has not been in recent years was very lucky as he suffered major injuries.”

Davide Brivio, currently team manager at Trackhouse-Aprilia, also knows Rins well. He has never hidden the fact that he has a soft spot for the Spaniard, as evidenced by the fact that he recruited him to Suzuki, where he made his MotoGP debut in 2017.

“If Yamaha appreciates what he can offer, Alex could stay there forever. He is very good in his role as a developer,” explains Brivio. He knows what he’s talking about: in 2017, Suzuki relied on Andrea Iannone to choose the engine configuration, and it turned out that this was the wrong strategy.

Suzuki didn’t even make it to the podium all season. The regression was so serious that Suzuki received concessions under MotoGP rules.

Another former boss of Rins is LCR team boss Lucio Cecchinello, who agrees with Quartararo and Brivio. “Alex has a lot of experience as well as a very high level of sensitivity and ability to develop the motorcycle,” he attests to Rins.

“Let’s not forget that he spent many years at Suzuki, where his contribution to the development of the bike contributed to the 2020 title. He is someone who gives everything, a valuable rider. When he is back at 100 percent, he will become very Yamaha help.”

Honda drove Rins into the arms of Yamaha

Rins’ surprise triumph last year in Austin for LCR-Honda is still the last victory for the Japanese manufacturer to date, which shows what a dead end Honda is in. If Yamaha can thank anyone for having Rins in their ranks, it’s actually Honda.

The brand treated him badly despite promising to give him official driver status. “Alex didn’t want to leave Honda, but he felt betrayed and that’s why he left,” reveals a source close to Rins about the move.

HRC’s short-sightedness therefore allowed its direct competitor to acquire a rider it would later miss in the wake of Marc Marquez’s decision to leave Honda and move to Gresini-Ducati.

In truth, Yamaha’s interest in Rins began even before they signed him. The manufacturer wanted to add him to its squad as early as 2023 in order to replace Franco Morbidelli early on. However, this path was ultimately not taken because Yamaha had just terminated the contract with Maverick Vinales.

Now that Rins is committed until at least the end of 2026, Yamaha emphasizes: “The desire to improve the M1 is a crucial factor in understanding the contract extension, as well as the return of the satellite team for 2025.”

The company is currently transforming its technical department, which began this year with the arrival of Max Bartolini as technical director and continues with the introduction of new protocols to accelerate motorcycle development, which is starting to show positive signs on the track.

In addition to various chassis and engine configurations, a V4 engine is also in the pipeline, which is scheduled to debut at the post-season test in Valencia at the end of 2024.

With that in mind, the opinion of a rider like Rins, with his sensitivity and experience, probably justifies Yamaha’s insistence on signing him despite his injury and then holding on to him.

Rins himself recently defended himself against speculation that his bad leg also played a role in his performance: “People make wrong assumptions. If I had a left leg like my right, my results would be identical. It doesn’t affect me at all on the motorcycle .”