‘Totally different’ Yamaha restores confidence for Vinales

Maverick Vinales says Movistar Yamaha’s wholesale changes to his YZR-M1 has restored his confidence to attack after ending Friday practice at Mugello second quickest.

The Spanish rider produced his strongest day since finishing second in the United States MotoGP by ending FP2 in second place just behind Andrea Iannone for Suzuki in Italy.

Vinales had demanded key changes from his Yamaha squad after “trying to at every corner” during his frustrating race in France last time out and reportedly found vital breakthroughs at the recent test at Circuit de Catalunya.

The 23-year-old, who sits second in the MotoGP riders’ world championship, says a reconfigured basic set-up to adjust the complete geometry and length of his Yamaha has enabled him to extract the optimum performance from the Michelin tyres which he’d previously struggled with due to being lighter than his fellow Yamaha riders.

“The main reason is we have made the tyres work in a different way and it is better for me that way,” Vinales said. “I am quite light so the bike needs to be different to Valentino and Johann as I think that their weight is different to mine.

“Today I felt really good, there is still some problems we can improve but it is much better than at other races with the confidence and with the work we’ve been doing between the morning and the afternoon.

“The basic set-up which is totally different. The bike is a little bit shorter and I feel better.”