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It was a positive Friday experienced by the Aprilia Racing team at its home track of Mugello, where Aleix Espargarò and Maverick Vinales managed to secure a passage through into Q2, concluding FP2 in tenth and ninth position respectively.
It was a good result for Captain Aleix, but he was not particularly comfortable with his RS-GP on this first day in Tuscany. "It wasn' t bad, but right now we are not at a level to fight for the win. We are not at the level I would have expected and, in general, I did not feel comfortable today. Although I managed to have a good pace with a used soft tyre and I am overall satisfied, we are still missing something, " he said , "We are doing well and I think that if we stay focused and improve with the set-up tomorrow, we can be in the Top 5 and maybe fight for the podium, but to be honest we are not here to fight for the win, like in Barcelona."
In what area do you need a step forward?
"In cornering. In braking we are doing well, but I can't load the front fork as much as I would like when I release the brakes and it lifts too much in the middle of the corner. We have some ideas for tomorrow and we also changed the aerodynamics between the first and second practice session to try to change the aerodynamic load, but for tomorrow I would like to make other changes to the bike to see if we can gain something ," explained the Catalan rider. "The bike is much heavier and the aerodynamic load is not only increased, but it is also different and this has a big influence on the bike. Plus our position is slightly different, so we load the front differently. This is the first time we're thinking about two different set-ups: one for stop-and-go circuits, where we've improved a lot, and another to not lose too much on fast circuits."
So it will be crucial to find the right balance, even for the remaining part of the season.
"In my opinion overall the bike is better than last year, because we can stop it better, which was the big problem we had last season. In cornering though, we were number one. I remember here I was on another level at the last corner, whereas now it's not like that. It's part of the game, you have to find the right balance: you have to think not only about Mugello, but about 22 races and we have certainly improved, only in fast tracks like this, Barcelona, Silverstone and Qatar, the bike is still very good, however not as good as it was in 2023. We have to try to better understand the balance for the future, because the season is still long," noted the Aprilia rider.
The elder of the Espargaró brothers then commented on the safety of the circuit, compared to the speeds seen today.
"They did a great job in Turn 1, but I was talking to my brother Pol, who hasn't tested here and hasn't raced for so long, and he was very stressed because he says it's a very risky track. As I told him, I don't think it was a brilliant decision to come back to race at Mugello, which is the most difficult circuit in the championship, the most technical, the one where the highest speeds are reached and where the bike is most difficult and heaviest to ride. The stress level is already high for us, let alone for my brother who hasn't raced in a long time," he underlined, "I also told him, however, that it's part of the game and that I know the speed of these bikes is crazy: we' re only on Friday but we're already on 1'44" at Mugello... It would be nice if the 2027 regulations were implemented a little earlier, like in 2025 or 2026, but that's not my problem anymore ( laughs). But I do remember that in the past the bike would wheelie before braking at 300 km/h, whereas now it is much easier. I have to say that the wings increase the safety here at Mugello."
The Spanish rider then went into more detail about the evolution made by the bikes and the speeds that can be reached before the next technical regulations come into effect.
"The more load there is the heavier the bikes are. Even though we are a little bit more trained now than we were 10 years ago, the power of the arm muscles is still there and that's why we feel the bikes are so heavy. The current bikes feel like Formula 1 cars, but they are extremely fast, and I hope that with the 2027 regulations they will be slower and less physical, because now they are in an extreme way just because of the incredible aerodynamic load," he acknowledged, "We will have to see what the engineers will come up with for the next few years, but there is definitely a possibility that the bikes will get even faster before the new rules come into effect. Our bike will improve already in the next 3 or 4 races, because we are working on a new height adjustment device at the front. We never stop and already Aprilia will improve a lot this season, so imagine in the next two years... The good thing is that the bikes in 2027 will be less fast than they are now, so much less than in 2026."
Vinales: "Our limitation at Mugello is the engine."
There is a little more positivity on the other side of the Noale manufacturer's garage, where Maverick Vinales seems to be quite satisfied with his Friday.
"I've already forgotten Montmeló: as I expected, I'm back to having the feeling of Le Mans. The feeling is back and it's good, only the best we managed to do today was 1'45"3. It was a good enough time to get into Q2, but I think the goal for tomorrow will have to be 1'44"8 if we want to be on the front row. The good thing is that the good feeling with the bike allowed me to bring a lot of speed into the corners, so tomorrow I will try to force it to see if I can get something more," Top Gun said.
"Our limit from my point of view is the engine, because we need more power in the last corner. I was following Bastianini and he was going away from me in the straights, so in the race it will be difficult to fight because if you can't overtake in the straights you can do it at another point, but if they respond then it becomes hard. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, but on this track it will be crucial to start on the front row, because if I had a clear path maybe I could manage to do a different kind of race - continued the Spaniard - The grip and the behavior of the bike are completely different from Barcelona. Riding here is great and I can push a lot, the only problem is that I lose two tenths in the last sector and one in the first. Today I lost three tenths like that and we have to understand well what we can do to solve it. I don't know if there is anything the engineers can do, but in my mind I hope we will have more horsepower tomorrow."
Asked about the consequences of the fact that the bikes have become much more physical and heavier because of the aerodynamic load, Vinales added, "The bikes are definitely more physical than they used to be, but the problem is that we are all very fast and we have practically the same pace and that makes it much more difficult to overtake. If you can't do it in the straights, you can't do it on the braking, because we are already on the limit. It should also be said, though, that the bike now moves much less in the last part of the main straight, so it's much safer than before."
