It was on a 125 Aprilia that Maverick created a surprise by winning his fourth Grand Prix, at Le Mans, then winning three others, thus finishing third in the World Championship in 2011 for his year of discovery of Grands Prix. Moto3 World Champion in 2013, he spent a single season in Moto2 like an arrow, winning his second GP of the year 2104 in Texas, before moving to Suzuki and winning at Silverstone in 2016.
His arrival at Yamaha in 2017 was triumphant, winning the first GP in Qatar, then the second in Argentina 2.9 ahead of his teammate Valentino Rossi. The rest was less brilliant and Viñales had to wait until the antepenultimate Grand Prix of the following season at Phillip Island to return to victory. With two first places at Assen and Sepang in 2019, Maverick finished third in the world.
After renewing his contract with Yamaha for 2021 and 2022, Viñales inherited fabio quartararo as a teammate in place of Valentino Rossi.
Viñales is ready this season to qualify well and perform in drag racing starts, because “ this year, the most important thing will be to arrive at the first corner in first or second position” Maverick explained to Simon Patterson for the site The-race.com.
“That was the number one obstacle last year. Many races that I started seventh or eighth ended in second or third. If I had been in the lead from the start, I might have been able to open up a gap. It's quite difficult to accept that we had this problem, but we had to be patient to improve it. »
“It makes the wait even harder in a way, knowing that now the bike is good and we are able to be fast and consistent again. We did our job the right way, so I don't mind waiting to prove it on a race day. »
“There has been a complete change in Yamaha’s way of thinking. Since the middle of last season, everything started to evolve, although things had already changed quite a bit for 2019. Things are good now; we reap the benefits, we work hard to understand which elements give us an advantage. But racing is racing, and we have to prove it on a race weekend. »
“This year we know we are going to have to take a lot of risks because we have to be ready from day one. It will have been several months since we were on the bikes and we will have to adapt quickly again. »
The big change within the factory team is the arrival of Fabio Quartararo, author of an excellent rookie season.
“Fabio is an excellent driver, and I am very excited to work with him. We always look at every rider, inside Yamaha and outside, but especially Fabio last year. »
“He hasn't touched the bike much all year and understood it well at the end of the season, but the problem within the factory team is that you have to try a lot of things in one weekend. This is a big deal because in some races I only did a few laps with my base setup and then had to race. It's always complicated! »
“Currently we are in a moment of uncertainty; we don't know when we will start again. This means that we train just to stay fit and maintain good physical condition. »
Photos © Yamaha, Viñales Facebook
