Jorge Lorenzo still hasn't forgotten the fact that Yamaha replaced him with Cal Crutchlow, despite the fact that he did great things for Yamaha. Lorenzo emphasized that Yamaha has not made much progress and that their engine is still not good enough.
"Yamaha have never had the best engine or the most powerful engine,” he said, as quoted by crash.net “Never in history. The way that the engine is made? It’s not the best idea to have maximum power. This also gives the bike good characteristics - for example, stability in the corners.
To move the bike on the corners is more agile, more easy, more friendly to the riders. It looks like, in the past couple of years, they lost the strong points but haven’t got exactly what they need from an engine point of view - with power or acceleration.
Now it’s a bike that doesn’t have a strong point, like before."
Jorge Lorenzo on Yamaha
Lorenzo believes that Yamaha made a lot of mistakes, and that now they are not competitive with other teams. Others seem to be making great strides, while Yamaha is still standing still.
Lorenzo, when he was a test driver, was someone who did his best to help the team. However, he doesn't have the chance to do that now, but he still wants to criticize them. “I don’t say it’s a terrible bike because I’m sure it’s competitive but not enough to fight for the title.
Especially when you have Pecco Bagnaia, who is very mature, and seven more Ducati riders. Then other brands, like KTM. It looks like they have lost their way. It is a pity because I was riding for them as a test rider. With me, you never know, but I knew the bike and I could have helped them to find a way, for the evolution of the bike.
But now they have a different test rider. From the outside, it looks like they have lost their way. Hopefully they find their way again, like Honda, in the future”.