Maverick Vinales showed good pace during Friday and day one of the Australian Grand Prix, but was unable to reflect this on the Q2 timesheet, qualifying only 9th for the long race, and eventual sprint.
In a debrief after the long race, the Aprilia rider revealed that his pace was the same as yesterday, but his rivals managed to raise the bar, something that the #12 could not keep up with. Still, Vinales stated that he knew the difficulties he would go through, since yesterday:
– I was the same yesterday, honestly I rode the same lap times, I didn’t slow down, just the opponents were faster. Honestly I knew from Friday, as soon as I lost 0.3s in sector 4, it means you don’t have traction, so it was tough, a tough race. I tried to control the slippage of the tyre, but anyway the tyre fell off very early on. It was hard, but in these tough times is where you need to become stronger and think ahead. Tomorrow we have a new race and it’s an opportunity to see things for next year. So if we can win something tomorrow in the warm-up and in the race, we will have positive things for next year. Honestly I’m not disappointed, because since Friday I knew it was going to be a very difficult track for us, but of course I always want more, I always want to win that of course. The lads gave everything, I gave everything, and today this was our level.
“Top Gun Maverick” also spoke about the choice of tyres for tomorrow, stating that he hopes to be more competitive, on a circuit that many say is the Aprilia rider’s specialty:
– With the soft tyre I’ll be more competitive because you have more grip, so basically balance things out, we’ll see. It’s a short race, but we can get a good result. Let’s see if we run, first of all. (…) I know, and where the bike is working well, I can make a difference for others. In sector 3 I was fast, which means I have something special about this track, I just can’t do it with this bike. It is what it is. I don’t like it, I want to be first, but on this track the bike is not at its best and we have to understand and accept it. Of course I want more. I want to be clearer, but I can’t ask for more from the guys who give 100% during the weekend.