Following his suspension from the Austrian GP for deliberately attempting to damage the engine of his M1 during the Styrian GP, Yamaha officially parted with Vinales last week with immediate effect.
The Spaniard is coming to Aprilia in 2022 and will test the RS-GP for the first time next week in a two-day Misano test.
When asked by Motorsport.com if he was sad that Yamaha couldn’t level things out with Vinales for the rest of the season, championship leader Quartararo said, “It’s one thing I don’t really care about [about].
“I focus on my job so it’s something that doesn’t really concern me.
“Well, I’m not sad. I’m just having fun, it’s an individual sport and I’ve got a new team-mate this weekend.
“So, yeah, I’m not really sad.”
Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Quartararo will join the Yamaha works team from test driver Cal Crutchlow this weekend at Silverstone, who was supposed to compete at the British GP as Franco Morbidelli’s deputy at Petronas SRT.
Morbidelli is believed to replace Vinales for the remainder of 2021 when he is fit and will take his place full-time in 2022, while Crutchlow admitted that he knew how long he would be racing this season – but refused to to elaborate on it.
Vinales’ former teammate Valentino Rossi said he thought Yamaha could reconcile with the Spaniard to end the 2021 season and also made suggestions that he could step up from SRT to end his MotoGP career with the Yamaha factory team.
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“To be honest, I thought you could fix the situation, but to be honest, I know as well as you – I don’t know much more,” said Rossi when he asked Motorsport.com about his opinion on Vinales’ Yamaha exit was asked.
“Maybe they have some other problems, and that movement certainly creates some other movements.
“We will see that in the next races. Anyway, Maverick will be driving the Aprilia as soon as possible too.
“It’s going to be very interesting because it looks like the Aprilia is very competitive and Maverick is a very fast guy.
“So this will be interesting for the second part of the season.
“And we have to understand who will join the works team – maybe Franco, and who will also be my team-mate.”
Rossi added: “As for the factory team, no, I think I’ll be staying in my place here at Petronas until the end of the season.”