MotoGP | Vinales, the results do not reflect Aprilia's potential

Maverick Vinales was unable to fight for the top positions in Lusail. Conditioned by the slipping rear, he had to settle for ninth place in the Sprint, but hoped to make progress in Sunday's race by making better use of the front tyre. However, the Spaniard did not go beyond tenth place, just over 13 seconds behind winner Pecco Bagnaia.

Already in this place on the grid, the Aprilia rider was busy fighting with the riders of the Japanese brands at the start of the race and this made him fall back to 13th position. He was able to regain the advantage over Johann Zarco and Joan Mir first and then over Fabio Quartararo. He returned to tenth, but was now far from the leading group and with a rear tire that he had already used too much. However, Vinales saw some positives in the Qatar Grand Prix.

“We need to have a constructive point of view on this day,” commented Vinales at the end of the weekend. “I think there is room for improvement, obviously. We talk about details. When we're in a group, it's very difficult: the tire heats up, you force it a lot, it destroys it. It's always the same story. But I could see a lot of good things to improve on the bike.”

“I said it at the Sepang tests, we started from scratch with this bike, because it is totally different and we need data. Obviously, I'm not happy with the result because I think we have a much higher level. But I'm happy with what I saw and what I was able to bring back to the team to improve the bike. A very important thing was the start, which was significantly improved compared to last year, and another important element is that the bike accelerates very well,” explained the rider from Roses.

“Now, I think we need to make some progress in braking, especially with the downforce and the difference in aerodynamic terms which pushes the front tire in the wrong direction. We must be aware of this and progress, because in the race the rear tire was fantastic, but the front wasn't working at all”, underlined the Aprilia rider.

Vinales believes that this weak point could be the consequence of incorrect setups: “Usually, I am one of the riders who put less stress on the front, so you have to really evaluate these things, which can be a clue to the fact that we have the wrong balance of the front motorcycle”.