Maverick Viñales believes an issue with his front tyre was the reason behind a lacklustre showing at Jerez, and
enigmatically stated he would “get an email” if he fully expanded on the issue.
The 22-year old crashed out of the third race in Austin due to what he believed to be an issue with a front tyre. At Jerez, Viñales encountered “the same problem” from the start, leaving him sixth at the chequered flag, a puzzling 24s behind race winner Dani Pedrosa.
The front “was a disaster” when braking, he said.
Viñales also suggested he had received a warning from Michelin in the wake of his post-race comments in Austin, saying he could “not say something” without receiving some form of retribution in the future.
“Today was really difficult," he began. "
Such a good feeling in the warm up, I was feeling I can do this, I can start and go with Dani and Marc, and fight until the end.
But in the race I have no feeling in the front, already from the first lap, when I have the moment with [Andrea] Iannone [at turn 13].
“And then all the braking points on the right side and all the right hand corners, I was really slow. I nearly crashed two or three times in corner eleven. Then, as I said, I tried to bring home maximum points, try to close the gap with the leader in the championship, and that was my target. Very strange.
“Normally we are very good in fast corners, and Dovizioso was going away in the fast corners. I was happy that my team was very good this morning and made a good set up. Because this morning we were really fast, constant, and the grip on the rear was really good for all the race.
“So my problem was in the front, on the right side. This morning was perfect. Something we didn't understand and we have to work. I know that we crashed in Austin for the same problem, but today I had the luck that I was not so fast as Austin, I had some riders in front, so I could not push at 100%. That's why today I saved the crashes.”
When pressed on the cause of these issues with the front, he said, “
I cannot tell the truth. Finally… difficult. I cannot say nothing. Finally, if you say something, you get an email. So you cannot say something about this.
“What I say is that in the morning I was feeling really good, everyone can see that my lap times were really constant. Good on the line, good on the braking points.”
“This afternoon was totally different and a disaster on the braking point. I was braking 30 meters earlier than this morning. Finally … I don't know …
we are losing so many points and it was I think not our fault.
So the fault was with Michelin? “I cannot tell you,” he said.
Viñales' comments were a contrast to his complaints on Saturday, a day when he described excessive spinning when applying the throttle through Jerez's left corners. Overnight set-up changes had cured his issues on the rear, he said, only for the issues with the front to materialise in the race.
“This morning with the medium, compared to FP4 we were improving the bike so much. We improved the bike so much, I was feeling OK, I can go for the win. Because I was feeling great on the bike, still I felt I could push a little bit more.
“But then on the race, I had good grip on the rear, but impossible to ride the bike in the front.”
Despite his difficulties in Andalusia, Viñales narrowed his championship deficit to Valentino Rossi to two points.
Read more at
MotoGP News - MotoGP Spain: Vinales: I crashed in Austin with same problem
