Pramac star Jack Miller will play a key role in Yamaha’s plans for the 2026 MotoGP season, with the Japanese builder ditching their inline-four engine in favor of a V4 unit.
Yamaha They confirmed that all four of their factory-contracted riders will use the V4-engined YZR-M1 during the 2026 campaign. They decided to cancel their inline-four project after several months of testing the V4 unit, before its debut at Misano last September.
The Iwata outfit is the last manufacturer on the grid to use a V4 engine, sticking with an inline-four unit due to its advantage in cornering speed. But the inline-four engine put the Yamaha riders at a disadvantage on the straights against their V4-engined rivals.
Yamaha also gave Miller New one year factory contract last September, to keep driving Pramak In the year In 2026 V4 engines to use the knowledge. The 30-year-old rode Honda, Ducati and KTM bikes using V4 engines before making his Yamaha debut on the 2025 Pramac.
Will Yamaha return to winning ways with a V4 engine in 2026?
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Jack Miller admits that he is on the test of developing a Yamaha V4 engine
Challenger rider Augusto Fernandez piloted Yamaha’s new 1,000cc V4 engine, which will run exclusively in the 2026 MotoGP season. MotoGP will switch to 850cc engines in 2027, which is another reason why Yamaha has dropped the inline four.
Read more: Yamaha’s five best riders from Valentino Rossi to Jorge Lorenzo
Yamaha riders gave mixed opinions about the brand’s V4 engine after private tests and official tests at Misano and Valencia. While The Yamaha V4 Miller gives it the same feel as the Ducati flywheelfactory rider Fabio Quattararo has voiced his concerns several times.
Quattararo claims the Yamaha v4 engine is “bad”. After testing with the unit for the first time in some areas than the four predecessors. But Miller is “absolutely” confident that Yamaha will be up to the challenge of upgrading their V4 engine, which will pay off in 2027.
“Absolutely,” he said. Crash. “And I mean, they’re totally into this new project, obviously, the bikes are changing in 2027, but they had to do something. This[Yamaha]is actively doing something to be competitive.”
“Then come 27, they’ll have a whole lot more information. Yamaha engineers have been going (crazy) for the last 18 months. And they’ll continue for the next 24!”
“But that’s the way it is in this game. It’s all a learning process for what’s to come.”
Yamaha had to make a 1,000cc V4 engine for 2026 ahead of the 2027 850cc regulations.
Miller believes Yamaha should have developed a V4 engine.The only way the Iwata natives could improve the M1’s traction was to ditch their inline-four unit. He often felt that it was hard to harness the horsepower of their inline-four unit with Michael’s tires.
as well as, After reading the 2027 regulations, Yamaha realized that they had to build a V4 engineAs the 850 cc regulations immediately show, “there is no way” you can continue to use four in line. Yamaha are working on their 850cc V4 engine for the 2027 campaign.
