After pinballing up and down the MotoGP results all year, Maverick Vinales is now in no doubt that "we made a mistake" when selecting the 2020 Factory-spec Yamaha: "Last year's bike was more competitive in all the tracks, ♔not only a few."

Yamaha has won six of the 12 races so far this season, but hero-to-zero form for leading🌃 riders Vinales and Fabio Quartararo means the factory is now on the verge♌ of losing all three world championships to Suzuki (two race wins).

Compound❀ing the misery for Vinales and Quartararo is that Franco Morꦦbidelli, riding the lower A-Spec bike heavily based on the 2019 machine, has often been more competitive than the Factory riders.

That trend continued during qualifying at Valencia with Morbidಌelli on pole position, Vinales 6th, Quartararo 11th and Valentino Rossi 16th.

Mo♔rbidelli, already a double race winner this season, is now just eight points away from finishing as the top Yamaha rider in the world championship, rai꧃sing questions about the changes made for this season's Factory-Spec machine.

"For me the most important thing right now is to try and understanꦅd what we need to do for next year, especially about the situation of the rear grip because sometimes 🔯we suffer a lot," Vinales said.

"We always have the same problem, especially on gas, that the tyre slides. But we improved a few other areas that gives me a lot of con🐼fidence, so overall I'm happy.

"We improved a lot the braking and the entry into the corner, but we didn't touch the acceleration aღfter FP1 because t🍰he more that we do to the grip area we get worse in the other areas.

"Let's see if tomorrow I can make an improvement on the rear grip and we can make a better lap time. At the moment, I can ride '31-mid, low for a few laps. Which is good to be in the top six. So we will try to improve tomorrow morning. If no🐭t, we'll focus o♓n that in the next race in Portimao.

"It's important to give a direction to Yamaha because right now with the new bike we are a little bit lꦡost. So we need to find a good direction that they can work in over the winter to bring something that really works on the bike."

2019 and 2020 M1: 'Everything is different'

Monster Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi has p𒁃layed down the difference b♛etween the Factory and A-Spec bikes (or 2020 and 2019 machines), saying on Saturday:

"For me the feeling when you ride is very, v💦ery similar. So the problem is not that the new bike is worse than the old bike, for me, but the problem is that it's very similar. So we are not able to make the step to improve."

But𓆉 both Quartararo and Vinales have been increasingly vocal about what they feel is a radical difference in behaviour with the 2020, Quartararo🥀 spending another day turning his bike upside down but still unable to trigger much of a reaction from it.

"Pretty bad," Quartararo said of his Saturday. "Because I think the amount of changes that we did this weekend is much more than we did✨ all last year.

"We m♎ake big changes, because we really think it is going to♏ work, and every time it's the same.

"I don't think we are doing stupid things, we alway𝔍s trying to improve and do smart steps, but nothing is really working

"Bu🤡t right now, apart from Franco, who h𓃲as a different bike to us, we [Factory-spec Yamahas] are all running in a bad way.

"Normally, qualifying 🐬is my strongest point. You put a new tyre on for me and I just go to the limit. And right now, the limit is seven-tent❀hs behind Franco."

Vinales revealed that the changes made for the 2020 Factory-Spec M1 are so great that he no longer tries tౠo compare Morbidelli's data.

"It's a totally different bike," Vinales said. "That's why we get lost when we l🉐ook at Franco [data] because - different engine, different engine brake, different power, different torque, different chassis, differe🍒nt swingarm. Everything is different. So what we do is focus on our 2020 bike and see if we can improve."

'It looks like we made a mistake with the bike'

The 2020 Factory-Spec bike has wo♎n three ꩵraces in the hands of Quartararo and one with Vinales. Far from a disaster.

But the problem in terms of winning a world c🌊hampionship is that, while the new bike is "amazing" at high grip tracks, performance plummets when grip is low.

"The area where we need to improve is on banking and the f﷽irst metres of acce🥃leration," Vinales said. "I think it's where we lost completely the grip.

"Because if the tra🐈ck has grip the bike is working fantastic. You don’t need to do anything. Just ride it. But as soon as we lose grip then it's not turning, or it's sliding a lot, or we don’t have the initial acceleration.

"At the end youꦰ on๊ly make the bike better if there is grip on the track. If there is no grip on the track you will struggle. This weekend, we concentrated to work without grip [including using the hard rear tyre in FP1], which is a good way to understand what we need to do for next year."

Intriguingly, Vinales said he felt the grip problems with the 2020 bike right from the opening test of the year at Sepang and told Yamaha. But by then it seems it was🔯 already too late to change back to the 2019.

"In thꦺe winter, I tested the 2019 and 2020, and the ✃2020 bike was not better until there was a lot of grip on the track," Vinales explained.

"When I tried the bike in Sepang I felt thi♉s and told immediately to all the staff.

"My information was good and I said in Sepang, straight away, which bik꧑e I want for this year.

"But it [Factory-Spec] was the bikꦛe we needed to ride for 2020, so I concentrated to make the bike better. If we look back, maybe we would choose another thing...

"At the end it looks like we made a mistake with the bike, for sure. Because ওlast year's bike for me was more competitive in all the trac🔜ks, not only a few tracks.

"I think the decision is about the group. For sure when one makes a mistake, 𒆙we all make a mistake because we n🅺eed to ride with this bike.

"So we will need to pay a lot of attention for [next year], but I think and I hope this is the♉ last time, that we learned a lot and we will try to choose the correct decision for the future.

"It's four years that we are doing mista🍒kes, choosing the wrong things, looking to develop for me wrong ways. I hope next year with the Yamaha we can build up a complete bike for all the season, not ju🐭st 4-5 races."

'This engine is a little bit of a nightmare'

Complicating Yamaha's𒆙 2021 to-do list is a ban on engine development until the end of next season.

An illegal and ultimately fragile mix of valve suppliers in the current engines has already cost Yamaha constructors' and teams' points, while its riders h﷽ave been forced to spend much of the season using just 2-3 out of their 5 engines. Vinales then needed a 6th engine last weekend, resulting in a pit lane start.

But it's not just poor top speed and reliability, Rossi has spoken of a lack of smoothnessꩵ from the latest ༺Factory-Spec engine, traditionally one of Yamaha's strengths.

Vin꧑ales said the engine is adding to🍌 the inconsistency.

"It's a shame that next year we cannot change the engine because this engine is a little bit of let's say a nightmare for us, because one time work, another time not work. So it's difficult to get a consistency," Vinal🍸es said.

"But anyway now we have two-three months to work on the chassis and see if we can m🅠ake a big improvement on the chassis, becaus🤪e it seems that the bike from last year turns a little bit more and has more grip and that's something we miss.

"If we want to do the riding style of Yamaha we need much more grip from the tyres. Sometimes it looks like both tyres slide a lot when you🍌 are on banking and you are not able to turn."

Quartararo starts the penul🐭timate round tied with Alex Rins for second in the world championship, 37-points behind Rins' Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir. Vinale♉s is 41 points behind, in fourth.

Vinales and Quartararo will then become team-mates at Monster Yamaha next season, with Rossi moving alongside Mo🥃rbidelli at Petronas. Morbidelli will again have the only A-Spec bike in 2021.

After next weekend's Portima🧔o finale there will be no ওofficial MotoGP testing until Sepang in February 2021, followed by a second and final test in Qatar.