MotoGP | Aprilia: a human error caused Vinales to fail at Portimao

The Spaniard took his first win with Aprilia since joining the brand in 2021 in the Sprint three weeks ago in Portugal, and was battling for his first Grand Prix win throughout the long race.

But a gearbox problem, which worsened when he was in second place, led him to slow down on the final lap, before causing a crash a few seconds later at Turn 1. Maverick Vinales said on Thursday in Austin, where he starts today the GP of the Americas, which analysis conducted by Aprilia established that the problem was caused “by human error”, although it declined to provide further details and said it would not happen again.

“Of course I spoke to the team, of course I wanted to know what happened, of course I'm involved in everything I can improve for the team,” said the Aprilia rider.

“And fundamentally, what is very important is that, rather than a technical problem, it was a human error,” he said. “So this is very important. I can't say more. It's a good sign because we have to believe that the reliability of our bike is good.”

“Naturally, it is something we always keep in mind as an area for improvement, but we know we have a good technical package and we must continue to give our best.”

Maverick did not want to go into details of the problem encountered in Portimao, despite the insistence of those present. “It's more of a never-happen thing. It should never happen. But the important thing is that it's not a mechanical problem. We're happy that it's not a technical problem. It shouldn't happen again,” he said.

Although he is usually fast in the Algarve with the RS-GP, Vinales believes he can transfer this pace to the Circuit of the Americas, which he believes shares the same characteristics. “I think we can be fast in all circuits,” he said. “I think we have to think like this. It's true that it's difficult to be at Portimao's level every weekend, but we'll try.”

“I don't see any difference between Portimao and Austin: climbs and descents, fast corners, tight corners,” said the Catalan, who despite the victory in the Sprint in Portimao, does not consider it as a victory in a Grand Prix, which would have made him the first rider in the MotoGP era to win with three manufacturers, having done so with Suzuki and Yamaha.