The face of Maverick Vinales says it all: heartbroken and disappointed with what to expect in Assen. Indeed, Germany appears to have marked its 2021, which started with a victory in Qatar. It’s a shame that those times are still a long way off, because the Spaniard is no longer recognizable.
The Yamaha rider is heading to the TT after a disastrous weekend, to say the leastwhere he finished last. The Dutch TT could therefore be an opportunity to turn the page and start over, even if one wonders: where from? Even Maverick doesn’t know, and as a result, the problems get bigger rather than smaller.
“To be honest, this moment is hard to understand,” began the Yamaha rider. “Here in Assen I will try to understand the motorcycle and the sensations I have on the M1, as well as the tires, which will be different compared to the Sachsenring.”
Maverick doesn’t feel like talking a lot, and that’s understandable.
“I’ve never been in a situation like this and I don’t remember races like this in my entire life, so I said that I don’t respect myself as a driver. The fact is, I don’t understand anything about it right now. Every time I try a solution, it doesn’t go the way I hoped it would. In fact, we have a lot of problems. What I don’t understand is that I won in Qatar and now I am suffering and fighting for motivation. I will still try to work calmly, even if I don’t know what we will manage in the end. I’ve fought many times in the past, but I’ve never given up. “
Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. the curtain will come up on FP1 and Maverick will already know what to do.
“This weekend I’ll be racing and copying everything Quartararo will do. I’m talking about setup, electronics, chassis. I will go out on the track with the same setup as him and any changes he will make to the M1. The bike will be the same as his, and later we’ll see if I’m fast or not. The problem is that you shouldn’t race like that, because every driver has to find his own way and try out the material according to his own feeling. The fact is that I lose time and confidence on my bike so much that I fell in Germany without knowing why. So tomorrow I’ll be on the track and copy everything Fabio will do.”
Even changing the crew chief did not help to reverse the trend.
“I got on well with Esteban, and also with Silvano, because he is technically very competent. I work with him to try new things that might be useful in the future. The problems? I don’t have an answer to what is happening and that is a huge obstacle for me. I say this because the main thing in this situation is to understand the problem and then take action to solve it. On the other hand, I don’t know whether I should intervene in the electronics, when accelerating, braking, or on the frame in order to improve my performance. “
So Maverick can only count on hope.
“I hope the situation is different here. The track is very smooth, it could adapt well to the Yamaha, so I hope for a different weekend than in Germany. “