On Thursday (18) Yamaha will present its motorcycle for the 2017 season at Movistar headquarters, the team's main sponsor in Madrid, with Valentino Rossi and his new team-mate Maverick Viñales.
The Spaniard, substitute Jorge Lorenzo, will be the main attraction of the event, since it will be his first public appearance since the change of Suzuki.
Massimo Meregalli, technical director of the Japanese team, said at the end of 2016 that the manufacturer was a little late with the development of its 2017 prototype because it would be a "revolutionary" motorcycle.
However, less than 15 days before the new M1 is taken to the track for the first preseason test in Sepang, it seems that this difference between the 2016 and 2017 bikes will not be as significant as previously thought.
In addition to the engine, which in 2016 exploded with Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello, this year's bike is not the result of a completely new design. It will be based on its predecessor.
"In the end, if you're not having a very serious problem, what the factory does is change some things, but without changing the philosophy of the bike," a senior Yamaha source told Motorsport.com.
"The basis of the 2017 bike is the same as in 2016. It will have a different chassis, a different balance, a different engine and different front suspension, but without ruining the philosophy of the 2016 bike."
"In Valencia in the post-season test, some new things were tested, but that was not the final bike of 2017. It's not the one we'll see in Sepang in the first test of 2017."
"At Sepang we will have a prototype based on all the data from 2016, in addition to the data gathered in Valencia and Sepang (where Yamaha did a particular test in November)."
"But I'm sure the bike will continue to change after pre-season testing at Phillip Island and Qatar."