A waking nightmare. That's how Maverick Vinales' first round of the season can be summed up, as he was never competitive in Thailand. While Pedro Acosta put on a show with the RC16, battling at the top consistently, the Tech3 team rider found himself struggling with his bike all weekend, failing to score a single point on the Buriram track. Nineteenth in the Sprint, Maverick finished the Grand Prix just outside the top 15, in 16th place, 36 seconds behind the winner and 31 seconds behind Acosta in second place. This sums up the difficulties encountered by the Spaniard, who at least has a clear idea of the problem to be solved.
"I lost a second of pace compared to the tests. We tried five different bikes a day trying to understand, but in the end I had very little grip at the front and I lose a lot," he said. "We tried different things, but with the lack of grip at the front, I can't tackle the corners: I go wide and I'm very slow in the middle of the corner. There's not much else to add. We have to forget this weekend and try to work for the next one, trying to turn the page as soon as possible."
Despite the disappointment and frustration, Maverick doesn't want to use his anger to try to spur the team on: "You don't have to put pressure on anyone, in the end everyone gives their best, so you just have to try to give the right and correct comments and try to improve in Brazil."
What remains from these two races is the obvious step backwards compared to the tests.
"It felt like I was riding with used tyres right from the start of the race, that was the feeling I had and there's not much else to add. During testing, the feeling was better. I felt a bit better than I did over the weekend, when things got worse and worse every day and there was less and less grip at the front. I don't know if it was because the track grip was increasing and the rear was pushing the front more and more, but I felt worse and worse and the race was difficult," he said.
Regarding the tribulations encountered in the GP, he added: "I missed Turn 2 three times and the last corner twice, doing exactly the same things and braking at the same point. I don't know what to say, because it's really bizarre. In two laps, braking at exactly the same point, once I almost ended up in the gravel and the other time I stopped the bike perfectly. It's really tough, because I didn't even do a lap staying between the white lines. I was always going everywhere. I went off seven times in the race and lost eight seconds."
Vinales has had many ups and downs throughout his career, and this seems to be one of the most complicated.
"I don't think the problem is mine. In the end, I'm the same, I try to work and give my best. Clearly, I don't have grip at the front, you can see that from the data, and we have to work to see how we can recover that grip. Maybe in the next race, with different tyres, we'll have grip. I don't know," he commented. "The front has had wheelspin for five days. I can't do anything else. It keeps sliding."
Could there be a correlation between the difficulties encountered this weekend and the harder rear tyre brought by Michelin?
"I'm not sure. I think we'll find out on the next track, but we have a clear answer, which is that we don't have front grip. Especially when cornering, because I have grip on the straight but I lose it as soon as I turn. We'll see at the next circuit. At Sepang, it was a bit better in this area," he replied.
Looking at Acosta's data, the Tech3 team rider knows perfectly well why the two-time world champion is able to perform much better than him.
"You can clearly see that he produces much more grip at the front, and it seems that this is his strength at the moment. It may depend on riding style or riding position. We don't know, and we need to find out," he explained, when pressed on the difference between the various KTMs: "I don't know how much difference there is. But I repeat that Pedro manages to get grip at the front, while I can't, and unlike him, I slide the front even more. That's the difference. I don't know if it's because of the track. At Sepang, we were much closer."
Even talking to his coach Jorge Lorenzo doesn't seem to help Maverick get out of this black hole.
"He conveys calmness and the need to work hard," he acknowledged. "But I think it's very difficult to do anything if the level is this low. It's very complicated because, no matter what I do, in the end, the bike opens up the trajectory, and I can't keep a good line."