Vinales responded to false reports in Spain that he threatened to leave MotoGP after canceling a potential pole lap in Portimao in Q2 for violating track restrictions.
This resulted in Vinales starting in 12th place, while a bad start meant he was fighting for 11th place the whole race when Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo won the Grand Prix.
Following the reaction of Twitter users to these reports, Vinales reacted angrily before closing his account, stating, “If anyone wants to criticize me, they should delete me from their Twitter account, otherwise I will delete my account because I did have none. ” Habit of doing it. “
Vinales clarified his decision on the Thursday ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, claiming his decision was motivated by how little he used the platform.
“Well, basically it’s an app that I don’t use too much,” he said. “So we finally decided to cancel. I’m more into Instagram and Tiktok, more into videos and roles.
“It’s what I like to do and Twitter is more serious sometimes. So it wasn’t the best, after all, I didn’t post things on Twitter every day.
“So we decided to cancel and focus on Instagram and Tiktok.”
This isn’t the first incident in 2021 where a driver felt compelled to avoid social media. Ducati’s Jack Miller admitted after a tough double header in Qatar that he turned off his social platforms to avoid negative comments.
World sport is trying to force social media platforms to charge fraudulent account users more heavily. English football is leading a campaign to root out racial abuse against players.
Social media is a “necessary evil” – as Miller called it Thursday in Jerez – that is needed by professional athletes to promote themselves and the brands they promote.
But of course it also has a personal use where drivers can get in touch with fans in ways that were previously impossible.
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During the COVID-19 shutdown last year, numerous stars from Formula 1 came to the streaming platform Twitch – which brought a new level of fan engagement that ultimately strengthened the F1 fan base until 2021.
However, drivers can also be abused by anyone on social media.
Aleix Espargaro, who frequently receives abusive comments on Twitter – including from Jorge Lorenzo earlier this year – says receiving criticism is only part of social media, but admits he is “angry” with the situation in Vinales.
“The only thing I can say about this hatred we see on social media is that people let companies take care of social networks, not drivers, like myself,” he said.
“We have to deal with the people who don’t like something about you in order to improve success, and in life you have to accept that criticism.
“We see a lot of hatred and you don’t have to worry about it because in the end I know Maverick.
“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever known in my life. He’s a very, very good kid.
“If it’s his job to ride MotoGP he tries to do it as well and as quickly as possible, but anyone in that job can have a bad day.”
“It’s easy to stop following someone. But why does he have to deal with someone’s hatred when they finish a race in 12th or 2nd place? I’m very angry about that.”
Espargaro admitted that he is considering closing his account and says if things don’t change, eventually all athletes will do the same.
“I think it’s pretty difficult because we are all human as you said,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com if there is something MotoGP can do to protect riders from online abuse.
“I’ve had tough times in the past. It’s easy to comment when you’re on your sofa in front of your television when someone is having a bad race or bad moments to comment badly.
“But I imagine people who are 40 or 50 years old, it could be their son doing that, and you won’t like to see the bad comments.
“First of all, I feel like I’m on my side that I’m not really looking at the comments.
“But there will always be people who will say bad things when things go bad, but maybe the same person will say something nice when you win.
“But I think the most important thing is not to read the comments. It helps a lot.”