Maverick Vinales took a few pebbles off his boots when talking about the times with Yamaha. The Spanish rider is not achieving everything expected with Aprilia, but he is happy with the bike, the team, the climate that reigns. Not like with the Japanese team…
23 maggio 2023
The interview is by Lluis Zuniga on his YT channel, e Vinales starts from that 2017 in which he dominated with the M1 and everything went wrong. Maverick descended from Suzuki, won the first two races and then also the fifth at Le Mans and was second at Mugello: a wonderful start.
“2017 was a very difficult year. It’s a nice memory from Le Mans, when I beat Valentino: I didn’t sleep that day because he was my idol. Then in Barcelona everything changed, the team brought me five chassis to test and I didn’t understand anything anymore. Still, thinking back on it, I feel annoyed. At that time we had the best bike, they decided to change some things, it didn’t work. In Barcelona, I started losing the world championship with Yamaha”.
You will remember how it went: three more complete seasons with Yamaha but always with good performances alternating with bad ones. A marriage that was never entirely successful, until the divorce in mid-2021. Maverick even claims that due to the disagreements that arose with the Yamaha management, both he and his wife suffered psychological damage. AND signing for Aprilia was a radical change.
“It was a relief – he said – knowing that the problem wasn’t me”.
For today, Maverick as mentioned is positive. Even if the bike is tailor-made for Aleix and now he is taking it in the direction of his riding style. He wants to be heard and become the reference for Aprilia.
