Maverick Viñales joined his Yamaha MotoGP teammate in the top-three after the opening day of practice ahead of the German GP.

Reacquainting himself with the short but demanding Sachsenring layout, after a year away, Viñales was confident the work undertaken at the recent Barcelona test, and the change of staff on his side of the garage, was paying off. 

"In the Montmelo race and test, our main point was trying to improve the front feeling, which I think is an objective we accomplished quite a lot,” Viñales explained from the Sachsenring paddock. 

“I have a really good feeling with the front, and I can brake late, which is great, but you have always to work on everything. 

“Now we've lost a lot of grip because maybe the balance is different - we have a different setup than the other Yamahas on the rear. We have a lot of ideas to improve the rear grip, but basically today we could not be faster because I actually could not exit faster in the corner. But it's that kind of day that gives you the motivation, and you finish with a lot of positiveness because I felt good on the bike. Basically, right now, we've worked with the front, we worked very well so now we’ve got to go to the next step. 

“We must qualify on the front row,” Viñales continued, after finishing third in the combined times this afternoon. 

“This is the real objective of the weekend because, like in Montmeló, when I got free in the front, I was riding fast - we closed nearly two-seconds to the top guys - so we need to try to work for one lap. 

“Here, seems much better than in Montmeló. For me, it was difficult to keep in front, to keep doing red helmets, but here in Sachsenring seems much better to do red helmets, so this is a sign that we are working in the good way. For sure, we need to go step by step, we are working with calm. For us right now, the result is not important, it’s more important the feeling, and the feeling I can give back to the crew chief but I'm confident. I'm confident sooner or later, but I think more soon, we're gonna go fast, and this is the most important thing. 

I can pass I think in this track, especially down the downhill - is not the best place but with my riding style I can be fast there!”

Discussing his change of crew chief - from Esteban Garcia to Silvano Galbusera - initiated last-time-out at Barcelona, Viñales explained the different direction for the weekend ahead.

“With Esteban I had a lot of confidence, we are very good friends. What I can say is that we work with Silvano in a different way - that maybe I'm not that strong for one lap but sure, on the race, I will be much more strong. Our objective is trying to find the compromise, so this is what we're working on, something that allows me to push a little bit more on my way. We are working on that, on feeling and little by little, for sure we're going to achieve it,” he concluded.