Pre-season, Yamaha was forced to ditch its planned 2022 engine over reliability issues, meaning it had to race with a motor with a power output similar to its 2021 bike.
This, as well as problems with traction, led to a difficult campaign for all Yamaha riders, with Franco Morbidelli, Darryn Binder, Andrea Dovizioso and Crutchlow, who replaced him at RNF for the last six races, scoring just 79 points in total compared to Fabio Quartararo's 248.
