Maverick Vinales is now a free man, or rather a free rider. After the amicable agreement with Yamaha to terminate the contract that binds them immediately, the Spaniard can start thinking about his future with Aprilia. His The contract for 2022 is already in black and white but after ending his relationship with Yamaha it means he will be entering the RS-GP shortly and Massimo Rivola is already working on a plan.
Lorenzo Savadori will keep his place for the remainder of the season, but we could see Maverick riding the Italian motorcycle all the way to Valencia from now on. Noale’s designer is under concession so he will use six wild cards during the seasonthat have not yet been used.
Before the fight, Vinales must of course test the RS-GP, also because he always only rode motorcycles with four-cylinder in-line engines in Suzuki and then in Yamaha and the V4 is a novelty for him. A test is planned in Misano at the end of the month, on August 31st and September 1st, this is Maverick’s first time at Aprilia, then the future will be discussed.
Much, if not all, of these tests will depend on when and where to deploy the third RS-GP. At best, it could already happen at the Aragon or Misano GPs scheduled for September, or they could decide to organize other tests before signing him up for a race.
This last surplus of the season is kind of an unexpected gift for Aprilia and Vinales. A bonus that should be used intelligently with a view to 2022. A kind of long-term test. Neither the company nor the driver have to prove anything at this point. You can just focus on getting to know each other better so you can start the next season on the right foot. Recent examples have shown that switching from one motorcycle to another in MotoGP is not that easy (just look at what happened to Petrucci and Pol Espargarò this season). So having a few months to break the ice is valuable, with no rush or fear of results.
There are still seven races left in the current MotoGP calendar. Given that Vinales won’t be at Silverstone, he could attend all of them, but that’s an unlikely hypothesis. Even race three or four would be enough and extremely important to prepare for the future. We just have to wait to find out the earliest date.