Maverick Vinales’ history in MotoGP has been full of twists and turns and surprise decisions. He made his premier class debut on the Suzuki in 2015 and took it to victory the following year, just before giving it up for Yamaha. He had chosen the M1 to aim for the title. A goal he never achieved until he left last summer in the season in which Quartararo led Yamaha to championship victory.
The Spanish front runner has always shown his talent but also that he is too constant and sometimes makes bad decisions. He admitted this in an interview with the-race in which Recalling his departure from Suzuki, he said: “I don’t want to talk much about the past, but it’s clear that I made a mistake. We ended up putting together a really good team, but at the time the Yamaha was a winning bike and I decided to follow that path. I don’t know if it was right or wrong because in the end you are the one making your own decision.”
He had started well with Iwata, but then got lost. As mentioned, the relationship ended abruptly in 2020. But even after months, Vinales does not hold grudges against Yamaha: “I just want to say nice words about her because I don’t have anything bad to say. I’ve always said the bike is great but we didn’t really know how to make it work because sometimes I felt unbeatable and sometimes I was last. I went insane”
Vinales needed a change and not a winning bike. He bet on Aprilia, which was growing, but not yet at the level of its best competitors.
“I wanted to feel a team around me, that’s why I changed,He explained. “All this vibe, having this passion, and mostly because I think it drives you even more when you go to a place where everyone is excited.”