Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales was left ‘frustrated’ at the end of the first day’s MotoGP action at Aragon after the wet weather grip problems the team thought they had solved at Misano returned with a vengeance.
And he Spanish wunderkind said that if a long-term fix can’t be found, then the championship challenge is over as there is a good chance the Japan, Malaysia and Phillip Island race could be wet too.
“We are really frustrated. In Misano we took steps forward with the bike on the wet, I was feeling good, especially the front. But here it becomes so difficult on the bike,” said Vinales, speaking at the track.
“Especially the acceleration, there is no grip and so much spin that it becomes so difficult to make a lap. Going into the corners, I have grip, similar to Misano, but the traction area is worse, the worst part.
“You try to improve in the wet, as it’s also an important part of the game. There are some races now like Japan, Australia, Malaysia, can be a wet race. If we are like this, the championship is gone so we have to improve.
“We were trying a new set-up for the wet, but unfortunately we didn’t find a way to improve. We’re having so much spin, the bike is not riding well, so we have many problems to set a good lap time. Luckily, it will be dry and we know we will have a strong package for those conditions.
“We are going to try to improve on the wet. We are trying and trying, but sometimes it gets difficult. We didn’t improve compared to Misano, we took some steps back while trying to improve, but we’re going to keep trying to do our best.”
