Maverick Vinales has joined Fabio Quartararo in expressing a wish to use the 2019 Yamaha M1 for the 2021 MotoGP season.

The pair, who will be team-mates next year when the Frenchman swaps places with Valentino Rossi, have both struggled in the second half of the compressed season.

Vinales said he did the best job he could this weekend at Valencia, taking a tenth-placed finish 19 seconds behind winner Franco Morbidelli, who uses a year-old M1.

“I try to do the job and go home happy and that’s it. I wish we could use the 2019 bike for next season, but I don’t know if it’s possible,” said Vinales.

“I don’t even ask for this. I have 2020, so it’s what we choose on the beginning and it’s what we need to work with.

“I think this was the maximum we could do today. For sure, we are far from the other bikes, but anyway I remain positive. What we showed at the end of the season was we didn’t have anything to fight for the title.

I’m doing my job, I try to give the best information I can and now we are thinking to Portimao.”