The scenario is now recurring. At each Grand Prix, Maverick Vinales gains momentum during free practice to assert itself at the end of qualifying among the best, if not even the strongest. Then the lights go out to start the race and the teammate Red falls into line in a few turns. The hoped-for podium, or even the planned victory, turns into a fight for the top 5. And at Yamaha, we no longer only wonder about its M1...
The number has been changed on the fairing, the box has been profoundly reworked with, in particular, a new chief engineer, but the bad luck has not been exorcised. Maverick Vinales goes exactly the opposite way to the teammate Red during a Grand Prix. In the end, he is not there.
In Qatar it was the case, and in Argentina we had the same. Starting second, he was quickly caught by the first peloton. Then, he fought for a fourth place, not without making a few mistakes since he was ninth for a moment. On the last lap, he was in the fray for sixth place. And he was hooked by a Morbidely also under pressure, and whose chief engineer is Ramón Forcada...
Despite everything, the 24-year-old pilot did not take offense at this sad epilogue: “ after all the problems encountered during the race, I thought I could finish in sixth place just before the end ", said Casa Particular in Viñales, Moto3 world champion in 2013. But then Morbidelli intervened. We both fell, I can't really understand what happened there. Morbidelli made a mistake, but maybe the same thing will happen to me in the next race… ».
So no hard feelings. On his technical choices, he specifies: “ the soft tires at the rear and front were certainly the right decision, because on the first lap I managed to overtake some opponents, although I didn't start well. I fought for third and fourth place at the start, but the bike wasn't working well. We still have work to do, but my bike has potential. If all goes well, I can still fight for the podium ».
From there, it is good to note that Red rode with the hard front tire, and a medium rear. And he still had reservations at the end, which allowed him to distance himself Dovizioso. The Yamaha official has been asking the same question for two and a half years. A situation that he comments on as follows: “ I don't know, we had big problems, we have to work on it, so that it doesn't happen again in Austin. During the warm-up, we had the necessary pace to follow Marc… I don't forget how to ride a motorcycle from morning to afternoon. Fortunately we have Esteban Garcia, he is smart and might have a solution to the problem ».
We must hope so because Mayo Meregalli added for the brand with three tuning forks: “ Sunday morning, he felt good » he told Sky Sport. “ The front tire was no problem. It was his choice and that of his chief technician. After the race he had no complaints about the front, but he had difficulty stopping the bike because he had no rear grip. We need to analyze the data, understand what went wrong. After the third lap he fell to the back of the pack and now it's up to us to figure out why. ».
Argentina, MotoGP, J3: classification
