MotoGP | Vinales disappointed: “My level is to fight to win”

Throughout the weekend of the Dutch Grand Prix, Maverick Vinales managed to place his Aprilia among the large group of Ducatis, who dominated all the sessions, in particular with the unattainable Pecco Bagnaia. On Saturday, the Spaniard climbed to the third step of the Sprint podium, but on Sunday that third place was complicated to reach, due to the fight with Marc Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Enea Bastianini, who ultimately took the podium.

Furthermore, Vinales was overtaken on the last lap by Marquez and Diggia and, when he gave the Roman from the VR46 team the chance to overtake him, he passed slightly on the green of the last corner, just like Brad Binder had done last year (who had missed out on the podium). Thus, the rider from Roses was penalised with one less position at the finish line, going from fifth to sixth place.

“There is nothing to say, I got the green light and they took away my position, it’s the rule,” Maverick explained without wanting to stir up controversy. “It’s the last lap, there is a sensor and it detected the infringement, nothing happens to lose a position,” he stressed trying to lighten the situation.

However, Vinales’s obvious anger was not caused by the penalty, but by the fact that he does not believe he has the means to fight against the Ducatis with Aprilia: “There is a limit of the bike in every lap. I touched the green on the last corner and I finished sixth. There is not much else you can do on the bike, simply, the Ducati is superior”. The standard-bearer of the Noale manufacturer sees himself with greater potential than he can now express: “The same feelings as Saturday. Give your all, stay there and that’s fine. But they have more”, he explained referring to the Ducatis.

The relationship between Vinales and Aprilia has gone from being idyllic to becoming, in recent weeks, so surprising to the point that next year he will race with the Tech3 team’s KTM. However, he claims that this situation does not affect him. “All I can say is that we did our best. My level is to fight for victories; we’ll see if things balance out at the Sachsenring. I’m much faster than last year, but the Ducatis are even faster,” he confessed.

Maverick continued to recall the perfect weekend in Austin, where he won both races, and hopes to be able to repeat it: “There will be weekends in which our bike will be superior and we will have to take advantage of that. We have to take a step forward.”