Viñales has the face of someone who is living in a nightmare and has seen the light at the end of the tunnel. His first place time at the end of Friday in Assen speaks for him, especially the 4 tenths of a second gap ahead of Folger, the rider who came closest to him. If he was furious after Barcelona, today he is calm and relaxed.
“As soon as I got on the bike I felt good - he recounts - This morning I was behind in the standings because I wanted to keep using the same soft tyre, but I knew I had good potential.”
And he demonstrated that without a doubt in FP2.
“It’s nice to feel like I did at the season start when we dominated - he continues - With this grip, the M1 really does well. I tried all the tyres and I must say that I felt good with all of them.”
Only one thing Maverick does not reveal: which frame he used to do the best time.
“It was definitely a Yamaha - he jokes, avoiding the question - I can say that I did some comparisons with the material used in the Barcelona tests and I will continue tomorrow too. If the new frame proves to be better than the old one, I’ll use it in the race. There is no huge difference, but even a tenth is important.”
Lastly, he closes with a comment on Michelin, the target of his arrows in recent weeks.
“I like to be direct - he defends himself - I'll repeat what I said to Michelin. We need more stability and tyres that work well on more or less all the tracks. If we continuously change tyres, everything is complicated.”