Feedback from former factory Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso looks to have played a part in convincing Yamaha MotoGP boss Masahiko ꦕNakajiꦅma that the company should stick with its own design principles.

Yamaha won the MotoGP triple crown of Riders', Teams' and Manufa♊cturers' titles from 2008 to 2010 - with Valentino Rossi and then Jorge Lorenzo claiming iꩲndividual honours - but success swung dramatically in Honda's favour last year.

New signing Casey Stoner gave Honda its first MotoGP title since 2006, with HRC's RC212V moto♔rcycle winning 13 of last season's 17 races. Lorenzo finished title runner-up for Yamaha with three wins, while new team-mate Ben Spies took the other victory.

Meanwhile Dovizioso kept third in the championship from team-mate ꧙Dani Pedrosa during November's Valencia season finale, then made his Tech 3 Yamaha debut a day later at the same circuit.

A Honda rid🐻er since the 2002 125𝕴cc season, Dovizioso was able to provide Yamaha engineers with a direct comparison between the 800cc Japanese bikes, before moving on to test the 1000cc M1.

The last ti🎃me a Repsol Honda rider moved to Yamaha was Valentino Rossi in 2004.

🀅"This is a very interesting subject," said Masahiko Nakajima, general manager of Yamaha's Motorsport Development Division, when asked about feedback from a factory RCV rider.

"In Valencia last year already we got man🌠y comments from Dovizioso (pictured). His comments always compared the Yamaha with the Honda at that track.

"During last season we♛ also investigated a lot o🔯f things about the RC212 bike. And sometimes I thought we have to follow the Honda type of bike - or Honda type of engine [V4 compared with Yamaha's Inline4] blah, blah, blah...

"But finally, I reached the decision that this is not♚ true.

"We can't create a Honda bike; Yamaha can only create a Yamaha bike. This was my conclusion. We have to create more like Yamaha and must go our own way with the chassis an🥀d engine."

Speaking during the Sepang tests, former British MotoGP race w🍸inner Dovizioso spoke about the contrasting philosophies.

"The Yamaha is really different, because the philosophy of Yamaha and Hon♓da from history is always opposite: Honda tried to have the most power and Yamaha the best handling," he said.

"I arriv🦩ed with the mentality of Honda and tried to ride the Yamaha in a certain way, but it didn't work. So I had to change and lap by lap it is getting much better."

Despite a fractured collarbone in a winter motocross accident, Dovizioso already looks comfortable on the M1 - the Italian leaving the second and final Sepang test as the top Ya🌼maha rider in third place.