English
Italiano
Raise your hand anyone who at the end of the Aragon weekend imagined seeing the name of Maverick Vinales at the top of the stack in the standings on Friday night in Misano. Top Gun this morning had a perfect free practice session, before the rain ruined everyone's plans, setting the best time that obviously remained undefeated, giving him a P1 that is not worth points, but gives him a lot of confidence.
Because a rider, no matter how long he speaks of a lengthy process, a conservative approach and a desire not to overdo it, in the end wants to beat all his rivals on the track and today Maverick succeeded, putting a smile on the faces of the men from Noale who today saw how successful the decision to bring Vinales to the RS-GP was. Many observers imagined that Maverick was in difficulty especially from a human point of view in Yamaha and what he said in the meeting with journalists at the end of the day did nothing but confirm the idea when the rider was asked for the differences in the working system between the two manufacturers.
"The work system is very different because it is difficult to compare it with what I did in Yamaha and I don't even want to do it - said Vinales - what I feel is that I can work in many more areas that I couldn't before and this will help me to be more comfortable on the bike and above all to be more consistent, which is what I want to do and what I was aiming for before. We are working in that direction and I am also curious about the Misano tests we will do on Tuesday, because we will try different pieces to see if I can go even faster. "
How did you feel seeing your name at the top of the timesheets today?
"I feel very good on the bike, but I’m still not thinking about the classification. I prefer to focus on my feelings on the bike because this is really the important thing at the moment. I continue to learn, also to work with the team at my best. So, we need to keep understanding many things, but it’s good to be in front, this is clear. It makes you feel much more calm, much more comfortable because you feel you have the speed. But whatever it takes right now, we have to keep a lot of calm and build up a solid step. This is what we are trying to do and the most important thing today was I tried the bike on the wet, which on the test I just did one lap because there was too much water. But it feels like a really good potential, so it was good. It was very nice, because I had good feedback from the bike and this means a lot.”
Did you go better today in braking and corner entry?
"Today I felt much better with the front of the bike and in cornering than at Aragon. But I think it's normal, it was my first race on a new bike, my first with a different team and it wasn't easy. Here at Misano I had already done some laps to familiarize myself with the bike, so I pushed straight away, and straight away we went faster than in the test. So it means we are building up and we made a step forwards. This is the positive point of today."
In your opinion, on what does this clear step forward compared to Aragon depend?
"For me, I'm doing better because I had already tested the bike here, so I knew exactly what to expect. I can anticipate its reactions, better correct the lines. At this point of the year, for me it's just a matter of building up confidence with the bike on every track. When I was in Alcañiz, the first laps I was feeling like a rookie that had never rode a MotoGP bike! Because it's too different, I need to use very different lines. In Misano, it seems that this is much easier, because I already understand how to go with this bike in this track. I can anticipate a few moves, I can correct a few things. This is all about feeling, confidence, understanding the bike and the track. But still there is a lot of room to improve. This is very positive, because I felt okay, today was a good day, I didn't feel on the limit. And still I keep learning. So it's very positive."
Is the rain helping you or would you prefer to ride only in dry conditions?
"I would prefer to ride in the dry, because I still have to explore many aspects of the bike. But I will not change my approach if we have to do all the sessions in the wet. I will try to gain experience, both me and the team. I still need to understand a lot of things about the bike. and even in the rain it is possible to do so. In the end I think I can take further steps forward with this Aprilia, at the moment I am not making the most of it. Compared to the tests I already feel a step ahead, little by little I will arrive where I think because I feel these steps forward that I am taking are very solid ".
Here you could fight for access to Q2?
"I knew I already had excellent potential on the flying lap, I understood it during the tests. But then I had confirmation of it here this morning and in addition I also kept an excellent pace. However qualifying remains the unknown factor, because as I don’t know the bike perfectly, I have to try very hard to do a perfect flying lap. Tomorrow I will have to be very fast to get into Q2, I don't know if I will have the potential to do so, we are all very close as always ".
In any case, today it was nice to finish the day in front of everyone…
"I liked seeing my name in front of everyone, I felt fast. I already know that other circuits will arrive where we will struggle more, but at least I am certain that I can be very fast and this is important. My mentality, however, does not change, because I know I am at the centre of a process that will also be long. One day it will go better, one day worse. But the important thing will be to keep working hard to find the consistency to always stay ahead ".
