Aleix Espargaro wants to forget the Austin weekend completely – Maverick Vinales reckons he could have fought for the podium with a better qualifying
Aprilia finished the US Grand Prix in tenth and eleventh place. This time Maverick Vinales had the nose just ahead of his teammate Aleix Espargaro. With this result, Espargaro lost the World Championship lead again after only one race.
“The whole weekend was very difficult for me,” Espargaro concluded. “I was focused and gave my best. I also don’t think it’s the best track for the Aprilia. The race was very physically demanding.”
“From the first lap in the first free practice to the last lap of the race, I would like to forget everything. This track is not normal. It doesn’t suit our bike and it doesn’t suit my riding style. Luckily it’s the only track on the calendar. “
From the first lap of the race Espargaro didn’t have the best grip. He puts that down to a misjudgement of his own from Saturday: “When you get from Q1 to Q2, you get an extra soft tyre.”
“An hour before qualifying I said to my guys to put the race tyre in the heated blankets. I was sure I would make it into Q2. But I crashed and didn’t make it. The race tyre was pre-warmed by then though. “
Even though the tyre had not been used on the track, it had already gone through a heat cycle with it. When the tyre is then warmed up again and used, it can feel different to tyres that have not been preheated once before.
“I felt that because I don’t like that,” says Espargaro, taking it on himself, “It was my mistake because I decided that way. I knew I was slow. That’s why I tried to keep the best possible pace and not make any mistakes.”
“This is MotoGP. In Moto2 we saw a lot of crashes, but here everyone is so good. It was important to finish in the World Championship points. I managed to do that. I am third in the WRC with 50 points. I am very happy with the first part of the season. “
For Vinales, the Circuit of The Americas is one of his favourite tracks. The Spaniard even believes he could have fought for the podium: “We had the speed and the potential to make it to the top 3. I’m not worried about the potential because I know it.”
The problem is that Vinales cannot yet feel the limit of the Aprilia RS-GP in qualifying mode. That’s why he only qualified 14th. From this starting position, it’s difficult to still move up into the top group. “We still lack the feeling for the one flying lap.”
“We have to improve qualifying,” says Vinales. “Otherwise it could have been an incredible race. But it is what it is. I think we are on the right track. The motivation is great. We are building confidence. I’m not very tall and I need to work a bit more on the ergonomics so I can ride more with my riding style. “
