With the title fight all but wrapped up but not yet at 'clinch' point, Yamaha's new V4-engined MotoGP bike has settled firmly in the spotlight during the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.
Tester Augusto Fernandez admitted riding the YZR-M1 out of the pit garage on a race weekend - even after he's ridden it extensively in private testing, including at Misano - was a momentous occasion.
"Honestly, I enjoyed the media attention! It wasn't even [like that] when I was winning the world championship in Moto2," he quipped.
"It's a big moment to be riding the V4 for the Yamaha, a historical moment, just proud and happy and enjoying."
What made it easier to be "proud and happy and enjoying", though, was that the bike looked good - not just out there on track but on the timing screens, right away.
Here are the takeaways from a potentially momentous day for Yamaha's MotoGP project.
By the numbers
Fernandez - who logged 37 laps on the day - was on pace already in opening practice, though ended it third-to-last and behind his fellow Yamaha riders.
Come second practice, though, and the soft rear tyre 'time attacks' in particular, he ended up right up there with most of his fellow Yamaha riders, with only Fabio Quartararo clearly out of reach.
Yamahas in second practice
12 Fabio Quartararo - 1m31.090s
16 Jack Miller - 1m31.500s
19 Augusto Fernandez - 1m31.678s
20 Alex Rins - 1m31.682s
22 Miguel Oliveira - 1m32.369s
There are some caveats, here. Firstly, Fernandez had Quartararo as a reference a handful of seconds up the road during his fastest lap, a 1m31.678s.
Secondly, the closing minutes were hugely affected by yellow flags - Fernandez triggered some himself, but more on that later - and thus many of the Yamaha riders just didn't log anywhere near the optimal time.
Sector by sector (in second practice)
S1: 14th of 23
S2: 23rd of 23
S3: 22nd of 23
S4: 13th of 23
Jack Miller left around half a second on the table, Alex Rins felt he'd come up two tenths short and Miguel Oliveira's efforts were only semi-representative due to apparent electrical issues with his primary bike.
Equally, though, Fernandez didn't get the full second 'push' run because of his crash - so it's impossible to say he would've definitely been behind the other Yamahas in 'normal' running.
'First time attack'
Moreover, as Fernandez suggested afterwards, this was the first time the bike had been run like this, in true 'time attack' mode.
"Honestly today was the first real time attack that we did with this bike, with the soft tyre, not a lot of fuel," he explained. "A real time attack, and it wasn't bad."
Trying out the bike in pure qualifying trim won't have been high on the priority list in testing, also because MotoGP factories' test plans are limited by tyre allocation - and testing tends to be carried out on very used rubber, with the idea of burning up a rear tyre for a 'glory run' unthinkable.
Also, Fernandez pointed out, the tracks aren't in the right condition during private testing to be representative of 'qualifying'.
"We didn't know what to expect coming into the weekend, in terms of laptimes," he said.
"I was praying to be competitive at least with someone, to have a fun weekend in terms of some fights and everything. In the end we are here for the feelings and trying to improve the bike - and we had both. We are competitive, and also we improved a lot the feelings."
Rins, who along with Quartararo and Miller sampled the bike in Barcelona last Monday, already hinted at the possibility earlier in the weekend that the V4 might have the beating of some of the inline-fours.
And he said on Friday that he saw on the data there was laptime being left on the table by Fernandez through Curvone - which he indicated was where the line makes the difference.
"He went super fast," Rins said of Fernandez. "And I was checking a bit the data - in Turn 11 he's losing three tenths. So, for sure his laptime was super nice. Super good. For a bike that jumps on a GP weekend for the first time."
The strengths and weaknesses
Fernandez said "all the changes that we did, they worked" in terms of improving the bike on the day.
"This is nice, because normally in testing you make steps but [by] discarding things - like 'this is not good, this is not good, this is not good'. So you try to find the way like this. Today was the first day that 'wow, this is good'. It's a nice feeling as a rider!"
Fernandez said the inline-four M1 still has some "very positive things" that the V4-engined bike cannot match yet, but that a key source of complaints, the rear of the bike (which riders say doesn't produce enough rear grip nor offer any rear support under braking), has been addressed.
"We improved a lot the rear part - as you all know, it was the main issue on the standard bike, it was the rear part, grip, management of the grip. This is much better already, since the beginning.
"And now we are trying to find the balance of the bike to make the front work as the standard [inline-four bike] - so, to get everything together, and make the best of it."
First crash
Fernandez's fall at Turn 2 late in practice was, according to him, the first time someone's crashed this bike.
He said there was no telling off from Yamaha about the shunt "also because I did a good laptime!".
"It can happen. And also it's the first crash with the V4. First crash ever. Pushing. So, yeah, it's part of the process in the end. We need to crash to find the limits.
"In the end I'm starting to feel good and I'm starting to push, and I saw the first [1m]31[s] lap, and I wanted a little bit more. I was close to improving and, yeah, it can happen. Was not big."
During the prior session, Fernandez was forced to park his V4-engined M1 to the side of the track and switch to a spare - but "luckily" there had been no damage to the engine itself.
"The bike stopped for safety reasons," he confirmed afterwards.
"It's the electronics things, the sensor was not reading properly, and it stopped for safety."
No top speed
The only question mark so far about the V4's debut - in which Fernandez appears to be around the same pace as what he would've been at on the inline-four - is the lack of top speed.
In the speed trap, located at Misano on the run out of Tramonto and right before the entry into Curvone, Fernandez was pretty consistently the slowest. He was around 9-10km/h down on the fastest bikes, and 3-5km/h down on the inline-four Yamahas.
Whether it's a case of the engine running detuned to avoid any reliability embarrassments on the bike's debut or just not having enough grunt yet isn't totally clear - but Miller's assessment after the session suggested it might be the latter.
"As you'll see in the speed traps, she's not the fastest thing out there - but seems like he's relatively comfortable," Miller said of Fernandez. "It's a good showing for the start of the V4 project, let's say.”
