Maverick Vinales won everything at the American GP yesterday, the Grand Slam you could call it and this is like the result of a transformation process which can be said to be going quite slowly if you look at it from 2021 when he suddenly became unemployed after parting ways in the middle of the season with the Yamaha factory team . But how slowly did this transformation occur, is it really because Vinales was slow to adapt?
In fact, when he parted ways with Yamaha, Vinales thought about retiring from MotoGP racing, but his friend, who had both struggled with Suzuki, Alex Espargaro, tried to convince Massimo Rivola to get his signature. After that, Vinales officially began the most difficult adaptation throughout his primary class career because he had to adapt to a V4 engine which was clearly very different from the inline 4 engine platform that Vinales had previously used twice.
In the 2022 season, Aprilia is developing rapidly with a motorbike specially created to the tastes and data of Aleix Espargaró’s previous season. At that time, Aleix himself had the desire to fight for the title, but Vinales found it more difficult that season because he clearly had a different racing character to Aleix. However, as difficult as RSGP22 was, Vinales was still able to score podiums at Assen, Silverstone and Misano. In general, the RSGP 22 was better, despite the heat and reliability issues experienced on the Asian tour. Rivola maintained his belief and renewed Vinales’ contract while rejecting the offers of many other racers.
For 2023, Maverick is urging Aprilia to hire Manu Cazeaux, who was recently unemployed because Suzuki left MotoGP. Manu Cazeaux chief mechanic, with whom Vinales won at Suzuki. After that, little by little Mack’s performance improved. He achieved three podiums (Portugal, Catalunya and Indonesia), with three second places that season.
At the start of 2024, everything looks similar to 2023, but if you look in more detail it is very clear that Aprilia is focusing on aerodynamics. So excited were the various 2024 aerodynamic solutions that Maverick got ‘lost’ in pre-season or in Qatar. The grip balance was lost and miraculously they found the grip balance click in Portugal. It is worth remembering that Vinales this year dared to insist on his stance not to use a Cadillac/Batmobile stern and continue to use the 2023 model which is slim with minimal aero stern as well.The victory in Austin was his 10th premier class GP victory, but according to him this victory felt the most special. “This win means a lot to me. When I assimilate it, I will feel that it is the most important and valuable thing for me because of how I can achieve it, how I can develop. This gift to my family through the work they do is incredible, I feel more proud giving them back this confidence than winning. “It’s crazy. I feel very satisfied, the thing is that you win today and tomorrow you want to get back on the bike and keep riding,” he assured.
“Of course it is more difficult to win with Aprilia. They have different values. When I signed with them, they were not in this position. Looking at the work they’ve done, it’s incredible how much they’ve grown. We are a great factory, we need more time to develop and show consistency, but I see this season has a lot of potential. “We have to be smart, focus on the work that needs to be done, do it with the experience of looking at ourselves in the future,” he said.
“The trust and confidence in me came last year. It took a full year with my crew chief to really understand the bike and what we needed, but it was worth it, because since Qatar I have always been in first place or at least fighting for the top. That’s what we have to achieve. Of course, when we changed to a new bike, it was not easy for us, but in Portimao we understood well what we had to do and at the moment I feel fine with the bike. “The problem is that when I can ride the bike with my riding style, I’m effective, I’m calm and confident, so we have to be able to find a balance within ourselves and on the bike that allows us to push to the maximum,” he explained.
“Previously, I didn’t have the weapons I have now, especially for overtaking, because I used to have difficulty approaching other racers. It’s definitely not easy to overtake, but now I can try. I have weapons that allow me to advance. You can’t lead every race from the first corner, you have to fight, everyone brakes hard and brakes late, but I also fought. “At Aprilia we have worked hard to know where to overtake, so it’s nice to be able to race like that,” he admitted.
