Just before the summer break, Maverick Vinales broke the mould and scored his first Aprilia podium – How the team assesses the Spaniard’s development
A little over a year ago, Maverick Vinales celebrated his last podium with Yamaha at Assen. Shortly afterwards, team and rider parted ways. Vinales switched to Aprilia and celebrated his first podium in new colours a year later, again at Assen. “I am the happiest person in the world,” he said.
However, the road there was no walk in the park for the Spaniard. It took him a while to get close to the level of his teammate Aleix Espargaro. At the Sachsenring they both fought for the podium, but a technical defect slowed Vinales down.
A week later he confirmed his pace in Assen and finished third – proof that not only he made the right choice with Aprilia, but Aprilia made the right choice with him.
Valuable feedback from Vinales
“Maverick got on our bike for the first time last year at the Misano test and was pleased with many positive things about our bike,” recalls race manager Paolo Bonora of their early days together in 2021.
Since then, he says, Aprilia has also benefited from Vinales’ input: “He suggested we improve in some areas. From that moment on, it was very helpful work coming from him.” Coupled with feedback from the experienced Espargaro, the RS-GP 22 became one of the most competitive bikes.
There is only one thing Vinales still struggles with, “As you can see this year, he suffers a bit in qualifying. His riding style requires a very specific way of turning in, and when he puts on the new rear tyre he suffers a little bit because he can’t approach the corner the same way. “
Already on a podium course at the Sachsenring
With ninth on the grid, Vinales achieved his best ever qualifying result with Aprilia at Sachsenring. “In the race he pushed a lot. He had the medium tyre compared to the other riders, most of them were running the hard tyre,” Bonora recalled.
“He was so confident during the race that at the end he thought he could attack Aleix, to be honest. But as you saw from the race pace, he probably would have been fighting at the end of the race if he hadn’t had the problem with the rear device,” analyses the race manager.
In Assen he even finished ahead of his team-mate, who fought his way up to fourth place after an early incident with World Championship rival Fabio Quartararo. This raises the question of whether there could be a team order at some point, after all, Espargaro is Quartararo’s first pursuer as World Championship runner-up.
(Still) no team order at Aprilia
“At the moment there is no clear order,” said Bonora. “We leave it to the riders to do what they think is right. They are good friends and they know how they should ride.”
Both Espargaro and Vinales are already confirmed as the factory duo for the next two years. Still open is who will compete for the future satellite team with RNF. The decision on this is to be made collectively.
“We are starting a new project, a new collaboration with this new team and we want to share the maximum of ideas,” Bonora stresses. “So it never comes from just one side, it’s an exchange of ideas. In the end, we want to choose the best riders for our bike to push this project forward. “
