Luckless Monster Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales was at Spielberg on Saturday despite being suspended from participating in the AustrianGP.

The Spaniard was keen to set the record straight about his current predicament and actions during the StyrianGP last weekend, which led to his disciplinary.

“The situation is sad,” Viñales said from the Red Bull Ring.

“It's sad for me because at the end I had a lot of frustration,” he continued, discussing last Sunday’s race and his disappointing 19th place finish.

“I have to say, and I want to apologise to Yamaha because at the end, everything was about frustration, also a lot of nerves. I ride the bike on a different way, the last laps, and as I said, I had a big explosion of emotion, frustration. But in any case I had not wanted to damage someone and not even myself, and at the end of the day, I'm very sad about how the things were going until now.”

The Spaniard was clearly seen to overrun his YZR-M1 engine in the closing stages of the 27-lap race, and again as he entered pitlane, with the Factory Yamaha team taking the decision to remove him from competition this weekend.

Reflecting on the situation he now finds himself in, a downcast Viñales continued:

“Very difficult, very difficult because at the end I feel very sad,” he admitted.

“I have a warrior's soul, I want to be there on the track, fighting every lap, and it wasn't like that. Anyway it’s a decision that I respect from Yamaha. I'm still a rider for Yamaha and I respect that decision.” he concluded.