Monster Yamaha launched its 2022 bid to retain the MotoGP Championship with Fabio Quartararo and Frank Morbidelli on Friday.

The reigning champion spoke of his self-belief heading in to his defending season, while Morbidelli has spent the winter focused on his fitness ahead of his own challenge.

Yamaha secured a raft of titles across a multitude of disciplines in 2021, with MotoGP - both team, manufacturers and rider, still the ultimate goal for Yamaha Racing Director Lin Jarvis. A team structure reshuffle welcomes Patrick Primmer as Morbidelli’s Crew Chief with Silvano Galbusera returning to the test team for the coming year.

A confident and relaxed Quartararo described the team environment as a family and home from home, both dedicated to their cause and full of fun when the work is complete, with his new full-time teammate echoing the feelings, having joined from last September.

“The winter break was quite long, but if I‘m honest I feel like I kept busy the whole time,” Quartararo explained. “There were many events for me to attend, and of course training continued as normal – so all in all it was quite busy, but in a good way. I‘m excited to begin the new season and start riding and improving.

“We got the title last year, and that‘s great. Nobody can ever take that away from me, but as of the first day of riding, none of that matters anymore. Last year‘s title win is behind us now, we must focus on this year‘s championship.

“Last year we barely did any pre-season testing due to the pandemic. This year I already have a year of experience with the Factory Team, so we know how to work well together. We know our strengths and where we can improve, so that will help during the tests in Sepang and Mandalika.”

“Last year was all about showing mental strength whilst working on improving my physical strength,” Morbidelli added of his injury rehabilitation. “It was not easy to come back after the surgery on my knee, but the work that I did last year will be beneficial for me at the start of this season. We already have some data to work with, and I‘m already familiar with the bike and the team.

“I have always had a good feeling on the Yamaha, but this M1 is so smooth. I can‘t wait to start riding the 2022 bike now that my knee is in a better condition.

“I‘m very interested to see how our progress will continue. I also look forward to seeing the whole team again at the tests. The atmosphere in the team was really nice last year, so let’s see what steps we can make during winter testing.”

The assured vibes continued through the management structure as Team Director, Massimo Meregalli looks forward to a positive season.

“Let me start by saying that we are, of course, very happy to have won the 2021 World Championship with Fabio last year,” Meregalli said. “But being the reigning World Champion comes with a bit of added pressure. We are highly aware that winning a championship one time is relatively easy compared to trying to win it two times in a row. So, the heat is on!

“We are all starting from zero again, and we have a long season ahead of us with 21 GPs on the calendar. We can‘t afford to dwell too much on the past: we need to focus on the task ahead and move forward if we want to finish first again.

“The team‘s morale is great, and the atmosphere has never been better. The new crew members that joined us last year have gelled incredibly well with the other staff. As Team Director I couldn‘t ask for a better crew to start this next title quest with. We are also very lucky to have such a strong rider line-up.

“Both Fabio and Franco are undisputed talents, and their riding suits our bike too.

“One of them will be looking to confirm his dominance in the MotoGP field, while the other is eager to showcase his full potential now that he is getting closer to a full recovery from his injury, so we are ready to fight.”

“Our goals this year are to challenge to win the Rider title again and to have both riders strong all year to try to win the Constructor and Team titles even if we know it will be tough in the face of very stiff competition from all the other factories,” Jarvis concluded. “With Fabio and Franky steering our M1s supported by our top-class team and engineers in Japan & Europe we are excited to start testing to prepare for the 2022 MotoGP season.”