Vinales: “It’s mandatory to improve race starts, I am doing all that I can”

Maverick Vinales says ‘it’s mandatory’ that Aprilia helps deliver him with better race starts after losing out on two potential podiums due to dreadful starts at the Austrian MotoGP.

Robert Jones

22 Aug 2023

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP Red Bull Ring, Austria 2023

In the sprint, Vinales went from second to seventh before even reaching the braking zone for turn one.

A late move by Jorge Martin to the inside of Fabio Quartararo, who also managed to get alongside Vinales then resulted in all three making contact before a big crash for the likes of Marco Bezzecchi, Miguel Oliveira and Johann Zarco took place.

In the Grand Prix Vinales made a much better launch, however, the same issue of not gaining enough speed as his competitors occurred, which resulted in him dropping down to eighth.

Speaking about his start problems, Vinales added: "Yes [it was a better start than Saturday]. But not enough. It's mandatory, and I push the guys so much, because it's something we must improve.

"Same rhythm we did today, starting in the front, we were on the podium. So I think for us, it's mandatory to improve it, there is no other way.

"But as a rider, I cannot do anything else, I am doing all that I can, all that they ask me to do, and it's something the technicians have to improve."

On the other side of the Aprilia garage Aleix Espargaro had no such dramas with the starting procedure, however, the BritishGP winner lacked the performance of Vinales throughout the weekend and was unable to secure anything better than a P7.

Espargaro said: "It was an extremely demanding race physically. It was very hot and at the beginning I pushed as hard as I could to try and stay with the leading group.

"Then my performance dropped because I began to feel a drop in the rear tyre and I also had to manage fuel consumption.

"In any case, I’m fairly satisfied. Throughout the weekend, our performance improved and at the end of the day, I wasn’t too far behind Maverick, who rode at an extremely high level here.

"We knew that this track doesn’t suit our bike and particularly my riding style, but we took home some good points in the end. We’ll keep working, as always, to improve."