Today, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team broadcast a virtual reality team presentation to officially open their 2021 campaign. The launch event’s theme #InItToWinIt echoes the mindset of a team spearheaded by two young and competitive riders, Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo, ahead of the 2021 MotoGP™ World Championship kick-off in Qatar in March.

With this year marking Yamaha’s sixtieth anniversary of its first ever Grand Prix endeavour, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team is raring to start the 2021 World Championship action. To set the tone for a new season that’s full of endless possibilities and which they will be tackling with a new rider line-up, the team found an innovative way to open its doors to the fans and media. Making use of the latest technology, they gave a virtual reality presentation to show off their eager young riders Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1s, as well as the team’s close relationship with title sponsor Monster Energy Company.

Viñales joined the Factory Yamaha crew in 2017 and immediately took two back-to-back GP victories. He went on to third place in the rider standings that year. Though the following season proved to be tough, the Spaniard kept his motivation high and won the race at Phillip Island. He finished 2018 in fourth place overall, just five points behind his teammate in third position. In 2019, he scored two further Grand Prix victories, one in Assen and one in Sepang, and collected the overall bronze medal once more at the end of the season. 2020 was another challenging year. Though the Spaniard was in contention for the championship title until two races before the end, he ultimately finished in sixth place.

Quartararo is a new entry to the Yamaha Factory Team, but he is already a household name amongst MotoGP fans thanks to his successful years as part of the Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team. In his MotoGP debut year 2019, he scored seven podiums in total (five second places and two third places), to end his first season on a YZR-M1 in fifth place, earning him the Rookie of the Year title. The young Frenchman started 2020 with a bang too, securing his first premier class win at Round 1 in Jerez, and he repeated his dominant performance again the very next week at the same track. His third victory came in Catalunya, but he was unable to put his mark on the end of the season. He finished eighth in the overall 2020 standings.

The colour scheme of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP bike remains the same for 2021, with the team’s YZR-M1, the pit box, and the riders’ leathers sporting a ‘Monster Energy black’ to ‘Yamaha Factory Racing blue’ gradient. The perfect blend between Yamaha’s aesthetic and Monster Energy's instantly recognisable claw branding is also represented in the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team logo and on the team uniforms.

Yamaha has a long-term global alliance with the team’s title sponsor, Monster Energy Company, based on their mutual passion for racing. A multiple-year title-sponsor agreement with the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team was signed in the summer of 2018 and came naturally, as Monster Energy Company sponsors multiple Yamaha teams (among them the Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP team since 2013) and riders (including Viñales and Quartararo) in various racing classes.

The team is also pleased to announce that throughout the 2021 racing season the bike will continue to feature the slogans of Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Yamaha Motor Philippines, Inc., starting from the extended Qatar Official Test held on 6th-7th March and 10th-12th March 2021.

Newly confirmed Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team rider Cal Crutchlow will be joining Viñales and Quartararo at the Losail International Circuit. After a seven-year interval, the vastly experienced premier class rider will return to riding the YZR-M1 on 5th March 2021 in the Shakedown Test.


Fabio Quartararo:

"I’m excited to start the new season, especially because I’m in a new team. Throughout my career I have always been moving from team to team – I like this. It’s exciting to work with new people and learn new things. I’m looking forward to the Qatar Test – it can’t come soon enough! I’ll finally get to try my Monster Energy Yamaha YZR-M1 for the first time. I’ve seen quite a lot of photoshopped versions of my number on the Factory Yamaha bike on social media, but – however well they are made – nothing compares to the feeling I got when I saw the real thing for the first time. I can’t wait to start riding!"

Maverick Viñales:

"Last year was a crazy year for all of us. We have left that behind us now and we’ll focus on what’s to come. With the two tests in Sepang cancelled I will have to wait a bit longer to ride my M1 again. It’s a long winter break, so I’m feeling impatient to get to work, but in a good way. After having enjoyed some time of rest during the off-season, we are all excited to start work again. We don’t have a lot of testing opportunities – just the Qatar Test – so we will have to be on our A-game straight away."