Vinales will start his first race as an Aprilia driver on Sunday from 19th place on the grid, having found another second in the lap time on Saturday compared to Friday.
Since the Aprilia had a completely different mechanical equipment than the Yamaha, which he drove between 2017 and the middle of this year, Vinales found that his normal driving style in qualifying was not at all suitable for the RS-GP.
“Well, I have to say when I did the time attack, I didn’t think much and just kept going as I did [on the Yamaha]and it was totally wrong, ”said Vinales when asked by Motorsport.com if he thought his driving style would be better suited to the Aprilia than the Yamaha Time Attack.
“I just drive too fast into the corners and have to do the lap time differently. It’s good for the rhythm, sure, but not the time attack.
“Well, I have to readjust my mind, I have to do more laps to understand how to get a good qualification here [at Aprilia]. Overall we are very satisfied because we think we have a lot of leeway and that is the most important thing.
“I have to understand the bike, but I still need a lot of laps.
“Sure, this is not the easiest circuit, but it was good because you know the reality and the reality is that I have to work a lot on my driving style and understand the bike.
“Today I tried the hard tires for the first time in – I don’t know – maybe three years and it was positive. So it means that everything is different. So I have to learn and keep working. “
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Commenting on parts of the bike that already stand out for him, Vinales highlighted the RS-GP’s acceleration – although he admits he still needs to understand the torque output of the V4-powered Aprilia as well as the bike’s braking.
“Well, what I really like about the bike is that the acceleration is really good,” he added.
“I mean the progression of the engine. I just need to understand the torque because it’s obviously different.
“Of course it’s completely different and I have to understand it, because it’s like that in a round corner and different in the pick-up zone.
“So I have to get used to getting the maximum power out of acceleration.
“But what I also like is that I can use the hard [front] Tires and that gave me a lot of feedback on hard braking.
“I wasn’t used to that, I was used to always driving with it [soft], with a slightly unstable feeling.
“And the hard thing gives you a good stability and that’s something nice. I also have to work on the brakes. I think it’s the area that has changed a lot more than the rest. “