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Coming in only 13th at the end of the Silverstone GP, Maverick Viñales didn't hide his disappointment for the situation in which Aprilia has been for several rounds now, although his teammate was the star of a good weekend, ending in 6th lace.
"We need to understand what's happening and what we're lacking, in order to get back to being competitive even on circuits where, in theory, we should've been the reference, since we've gone from winning races to suffering," the Spanish rider said in an outburst. "Here, for example, after the fifth lap, I had no more rear tire, and I went from 1'59" to 2"01. So there's work to be done, because there are at least three, four races that, in the first half, I can fight upcin front, and then I lose ground. Do I blame the mediums? No, I was very comfortable with them. It was too cold for the hard ones."
However, the 29-year-old said he's not anxious. "The manufacturer should be worried. It's not easy to get out of it, but they have to take action in the factory, because we're not at the level expected by Noale. What do we need? More traction. The problem might be in the swingarm, which is the only really different part since 2023. Now we'll have to identify the components introduced this season that are making us weak on tracks where we had dominated for two or three years.
Then he spoke about his future and Austria: "Currently, we're very dependent on rear grip. Ours is a bike with a lot of cornering speed, which leads to accelerating early to avoid losing grip. At the Red Bull Ring, I'd also like to see braking improved, precisely to avoid using the rear tire so much. The feeling is that, in order to be strong at the beginning, you have to stress it exceedingly. This isn't easy because the RS-GP is like that. You have to let it go, and then lean the rear with a lot of angle."
Finally, when asked about Ducati's alleged growth, the Iberian rider replied, "They're not the ones who have progressed, we've fallen back."
