Honda and Yamaha: The problems facing the Japanese MotoGP giants

It was once unthinkable that the two major Japanese manufacturers would fall behind in the premier class of motorbike racing. Yet that is precisely how things have looked for the past five years: ‘Japan Inc’ now plays only a minor role, whilst European brands dominate.

This predicament is shared by Honda – still by far the most successful manufacturer in the history of Grand Prix racing, with more GP wins and more Constructors’ titles than even the long-dominant MV Agusta – and Yamaha, which ranks second in terms of race wins.

Both are racing stalwarts that have built their reputations on success. Yet over the past five years, they have had to concede defeat to the up-and-coming European brands, led by Ducati, sometimes KTM too, and this year Aprilia in particular. Whether through complacency or simple human error – or both – both found themselves well on the wrong side of those tiny margins that make a huge difference when crossing the finish line.

Honda’s problems go back further and coincide with those of its former star rider, Marc Marquez. He won six titles for Repsol Honda between 2013 and 2019, but then crashed in 2020 and was injured on a bike that was becoming increasingly difficult to ride – almost impossible for anyone but Marc himself.

Although Marc managed to secure three wins in 2021, Rins managed just one in 2023. This was followed by Honda’s longest dry spell, which was briefly interrupted when Zarco pulled off a fluke victory at the rain-soaked French Grand Prix in 2025. The company had won at least one race every year from 1982 to 2019, often more than ten.

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Yamaha’s last title win was not that long ago – with Fabio Quartararo in 2021. But that was also the last time they won a race. As far back as 15 years ago, when Rossi was racking up one victory after another for them, he urged the company to build a V4 engine to keep up with the rest of the field. At the time, they rejected this and stuck to that stance even as their results began to decline.

Over the past two seasons, both manufacturers have made radical changes to restore the balance. For Honda, this was a philosophical decision that must surely have cost them a great deal of pride – particularly the poaching of Aprilia engineer Romano Albesiano, who now works alongside Spaniard Alberto Puig at the very top of the MotoGP hierarchy. A radical move for an extremely independent and proudly Japanese company.

The aim was not to replace their own engineers, but to introduce a more European and less rigid approach to racing. Until then, a culture of strict hierarchies and lengthy processes had held back development.

Albesiano has described how, upon his arrival in 2025, there were numerous different parts to test. It took until 2026 for his contribution to bear its first fruits. This season, the Honda is more competitive than it has been for years.

Put simply, he brought with him a less cumbersome method of assessing the value of the available components and then fitting the best parts to the motorbikes. Less waste, more action.

The improved results this season are impossible to overlook. Leading the four regular riders is Luca Marini, who sits 11th in the championship and ranks ahead of all KTM riders except Acosta – with a fifth place in Hungary as his best result. Even more remarkable is the performance of rookie Diogo Moreira, who has just won the Moto2 race and has even been able to hold his own against Marc Márquez on occasion recently.

Yamaha had already set out on a path towards ‘more Europeans’ by basing the team in Italy and recruiting staff from Ducati and KTM. The change for 2026 was technical in nature: the team finally abandoned its long-standing loyalty to the increasingly uncompetitive inline-four and joined the others by switching to a V4.

So far, the result has been very disappointing – so much so that it has completely demoralised their star rider and biggest asset, Fabio Quartararo. With a third of the season gone, he is being paid a fortune to languish at the back of the field with a long face. Clearly, he can hardly wait to switch to Honda in 2027.

You can hardly blame him, given that enormous efforts in the opening races have yielded little reward – his best result was fifth place at the severely weakened Catalan GP and sixth place at his home race in France.

The other riders continue to perform well, and Yamaha’s rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu – who has no preconceived notions of how a MotoGP bike should feel – is showing signs that he is getting to grips with the V4. Yet the results remain disappointing. Yamaha is forced to think long-term. They’re learning new things. They’re making progress. At least, that’s what they say.

Fortunately for them, with the new rules for 2027, everyone will be starting from scratch again, which will at least ensure a level playing field. If nothing else, the plight of the once-dominant Japanese manufacturers highlights an important realisation: in MotoGP, the gap between ‘hero’ and ‘zero’ is very, very narrow.