Maverick Vinales started the 2021 season as a Yamaha rider, with a contract in effect until the end of 2022 and with a promising start in Qatar, where he had won the inaugural race of the just-concluded championship. However, the situation was reversed at the end of June, to the point where the driver asked to terminate the contract that linked him to the Iwata manufacturer until the end of the following season, giving up more than six million euros.
This new condition of Maverick aroused the interest of Aprilia to hire him from 2022. The two sides immediately reached an agreement that economically significantly reduced the rider’s income. But one too many lapses with the factory team’s M1 at the Styrian Grand Prix led Yamaha first to suspend Vinales, then to terminate his contract with immediate effect, on 20 August.
With no bikes for the latter part of the season and with a contract with Aprilia for 2022, both sides have decided to anticipate the Spaniard’s debut aboard the RS-GP, with which he has in fact raced in five of the last six races this season. , with an eighth place in Misano as the best result.
Vinales got on the Aprilia for the first time during a test at Misano at the end of August and made his debut in the Aragon Grand Prix on 12 September, finishing 18th. At that moment, the Catalan assured that the second half of the season would serve to prepare for 2022. On Sunday, after finishing in 16th position in the last race of the year, Motorsport.com asked Maverick if he had achieved his goals. that he had set for himself.
“The goal was achieved, because we really needed to see where we were and what we needed to improve. The Aprilia is a bike that can only go fast with Aleix Espargaro and we have been able to see that every time we are getting closer and improving the bike. At the moment I would say that we have understood which are the areas in which we can improve and where to work more “.
Once the problem and the needs of the bike have been identified, the question concerns the difficulty in solving them: “I think it is something that can be easily improved, this is the positive thing, especially because I am not comfortable on the bike as regards the position, driving style. But I still manage to make good times. The truth is that when I find a bit of feeling I go faster, so there isn’t much more to say, you just have to work hard and keep going ”.
“I’m happy because we were able to identify the exact point where we need to improve and this was the most important thing to do in these five doings. I think the goal has been achieved, as far as I am concerned. Sunday, for example, was very tough at the beginning, I made some mistakes and in the end I finished 18 seconds behind the winner Bagnaia, going off the track three or four times and staying in traffic with other riders. The day we can start later on the grid, we will be there ”.
The certainty with which Maverick ensures that the RS-GP can be improved is a bit surprising, a bike whose evolution has never totally shone over the years: “The challenge is really great, because there are many factors, it’s a totally different, a very different team and, above all, a project that started in a different way. However it is a beautiful thing, it is a challenge that motivates me, and this is the most important thing for me. Now we have a long winter ahead of us to work and if it were up to me, it would pass quickly. I am already looking forward to the tests in Jerez (this week), Sepang (in February) and to start in Qatar (in March) ”.
Maverick wanted to underline the fact that he anticipated his debut with Aprilia with the aim of preparing for the 2022 season: “The evaluation is positive, very positive, because we were able to understand, and above all confirm, what I need and what points we have to work on during the winter, this is important. Sometimes in the tests we have a lot of grip and this can be harmful because it masks the problems, the grip solves them in some way. Then you get to the race or to a circuit with little grip and that’s when you realize the real problem. The good thing is that we were able to do these races as if they were a test on the grand prix weekends and we know exactly where the problem is and how to fix it. The goal was to identify the problems, we did it and that’s why I’m very happy with the results ”.
For the Catalan, the season was a real rollercoaster of positive and negative emotions, both on a sporting level with his separation from Yamaha and signing for Aprilia, and on a private level, having married, becoming a father and having to live the death of his cousin Dean Berta Viñales. On a sporting level, Maverick wants to turn the page of the year that is about to end.
“Honestly, I don’t want to rate myself, it’s a season that I want to cancel in the sense that I haven’t been at my best level, I don’t like to think about the past, I feel there is still a lot to discover and a lot to give and I don’t see the “now. The truth is that with Aprilia I have a very important challenge waiting for me, which I am taking to heart. I want to win with them. The evaluation I would make this year is my self-confidence, this is a real evaluation,” I have a lot of faith in myself and I know what I am capable of, ”he says.
Finally, Maverick does not hide his ambitions for next season: “We have to start in Qatar at the best, there is no other way. I know very well why I was involved in this project, so we have to start from the first race of next year at the latest ”.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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