Maverick Vinales’ has been suffered in Brno but the Spaniard is hoping that he can make the soft tyres work for tomorrows 21-lap MotoGP race.
It has been an eventful weekend for Vinales, after yesterday confirming that he would be splitting from hugely-experienced crew chief Ramon Forcada at the end of 2018 and today being forced to go through Q1 before eventually qualifying down in twelfth position.
Vinales struggled on the track with the rear tyre. The factory Yamaha rider said he though the hard tyre in Q2 would give him more speed, instead it had the opposite outcome.
“I tried to focus on the here and now and give the maximum. There are still a lot of points up for grabs. We’re going to try to keep doing our best,” said the Spaniard.
“I used the medium tyre in Q1, thinking the hard was going to be better for Q2, but finally it turned out to be the opposite, with the medium I felt much better. It didn’t leave me with any questions: the medium was much better; with the hard it was difficult to push. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
Despite the issues with his tyre choices over the weekend, Vinales sounded sure in what he plans to do for tomorrows race.
“This weekend our setting isn’t perfect, so we need to keep working,” he said.
“I don’t think I will use the harder tyre tomorrow. I will see if I can make the soft last, and if it gives me something extra on the first laps. Let’s see tomorrow, I will try my best as always.”