Maverick Viñales will return this weekend to a Losail track that he had dominated a year ago at the start of a 2021 campaign which would subsequently prove to be heartbreaking. His serenity displayed with the Yamaha during this start, where he swore to be serene as never before thanks in particular to a new family balance, would then crumble and be shattered to lead to the rupture that we know. Then the Spaniard experienced other delicate personal moments, but here he is now an Aprilia official, with an RS-GP which proved interesting during the off-season. Before returning to a Qatar that he adores, he takes a final look at the situation, ensuring that, this time, he is in the right place...
Maverick Vinales will experience its first season as an official in 2022 aprilia-racing, troops he joined in the middle of the 2021 campaign after a crisis experienced with a factory Yamaha who went so far as to fire him… In comments read on Motosan, he relates the lesson learned as follows: “ difficult times both professionally and personally… In the end there comes a point where you can't take it anymore, the glass is full. Sometimes it's hard to deal with nerves. In Austria, everything was very complex, like the sun and the moon. In the first race everything worked perfectly. Five minutes later, everything was different. Something I couldn't accept. There were unexplainable things ". And he adds: “ Really, I should have made the change much sooner. I should have trusted myself, followed my instinct, my path. Now this is what I do ».
And mentally, this has its effect: “ I want to win, that’s obvious. I still have a lot in me to show. These years I haven't been able to show my version. Above all, I needed a change of scenery and way of approaching a Grand Prix. It was a difficult routine to manage. The results were inconsistent and I arrived at the weekend demotivated. One day I was at my maximum and the next day I was far from the top positions. It was all very strange, especially to my head. It was difficult to assimilate. In the end, I decided to make a change I needed. I met people who care about how I feel. At Aprilia they try to create a strong and powerful team around me ».
Maverick Vinales: “I needed to get out of my comfort zone and surpass myself”
The objective of fighting for the MotoGP World Championship is more relevant than ever: “ I'm very hungry. Last year it burned me inside. It gave me energy and wings to work and continue to improve. I talk to a lot of people about it and they say to me: 'You left Yamaha, now you're with Aprilia'. Nobody understands it. But that's what I needed. I needed to get out of my comfort zone and push myself to get the most out of me ».
Et Maverick Vinales also wants to get the most out of this RS-GP which, with its V4, has a character so different from the inline four-cylinder of its old M1: “ It's a new motorcycle. Little by little, we will see its potential. The best thing to do was to test it and see how it improved over last year's version. Positive is just that, it's better. We found out in the first round. And it's something difficult and it gives us a lot of confidence before the start of the Championship. With Aprilia, we have to work very calmly and very intelligently. We can do more testing and we can benefit from it » recalls Top Gun, alluding to the concession points in the regulations that Noale's firm still enjoys.
« I really want it. The best thing is to create something unique. Suzuki was an ideal team from the first year, but before that I was never in a team where I grew up, where I evolved. At the end of the day, if you are comfortable, you make a difference. And that's what I'm looking for: to be well, to enjoy and to give the maximum " finished Casa Particular in Viñales who can count on the stablemate Aleix Espargaró so as not to relax: “ I talked a lot with him. We have a lot of trust and a good relationship. We know what our goal is. We have a clear idea, which is similar to the one we had when we met at Suzuki: to make a winning motorcycle. We work hard. Aleix is at a higher level and that's good, because that way I'll also improve ". Of the this weekend in Losail, we will really see where the project is Aprilia now oriented around Maverick Vinales.
