MotoGP: Yamaha suspends Vinales

Maverick Vinales will not be competing at this weekend’s MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix, following a suspension by Yamaha. 

Vinales has been suspended by Yamaha following analysis by the factory’s engineer’s that concluded their #12 rider had conducted “unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle,” as per a statement by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team. 

The statement continued, saying that “Yamaha’s conclusion is that the rider’s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race.”

Vinales’ race got off to a good start in Styria last weekend, and he was fighting in the front group before the red flag for the incident between Lorenzo Savadori and Dani Pedrosa. On the warm-up lap for the restart, however, Vinales stalled the bike and was forced to start from pit lane. His recovery was limited, and he later received a long lap penalty. 

Vinales dropped to last place in the final four laps, behind Franco Morbidelli’s replacement at Petronas SRT, Cal Crutchlow, and pitted on the final lap. A look at the chronological analysis on the official MotoGP website shows Vinales’ final three laps before pitting were in the 1’30s and 1’31s, compared to the 1’25s he had been running before that. 

Neil Morrison, who commentates on the world feed for the Moto2 and Moto3 free practice and warm-up sessions, tweeted that a trackside photographer “heard Maverick hitting the rev limiter again and again in [the] final laps.” 

This is a truly remarkable story. For a competitor to ride seemingly with intent to break his motorcycle is difficult to understand. What seems quite straightforward to understand is that the relationship between Vinales and Yamaha is, firstly, entirely toxic and, secondly, almost certainly over. 

Vinales and Yamaha had already announced that they would not be continuing together in 2022 back in Assen, a week on from Vinales finishing the German Grand Prix in Sachsenring in last place. It would now appear that continuing for the remainder of 2021 is something that neither party either wants or could consider a possibility. 

From Yamaha’s side, it is hard to understand how they could maintain the belief in Vinales to not only give his all out on track while riding their motorcycle, but also how they could find the trust in the #12 to maintain the condition of said motorcycle. If they think he has ridden with the intent to break it once, how can they trust he won’t try it again? 

From Vinales’ side, going back into a team that must hold a certain level of contempt for him at this point, and seemingly deservingly so, as well as one that he clearly hasn’t felt comfortable in for a while would seem to be an impossibility. The last four years has seen a consistent barrage on Vinales’ mental state, clearly, such have been the apparently unsolvable problems he has faced with regards to finding a consistent setting with the bike that allows him to be fast and comfortable. It looks like he has reached his breaking point, and going back into the environment that drove him there does not seem like the smartest move for either himself or Yamaha. 

The situation creates two questions. Firstly, who will Yamaha replace Vinales with, since they cannot complete half a season with only one bike, as per the regulations. The obvious answer is Cal Crutchlow, but the Briton is scheduled to be replacing Franco Morbidelli at this week’s Austrian Grand Prix as well as the British Grand Prix at the end of August. Yamaha have already confirmed in their aforementioned statement that Vinales will not be replaced in Austria, but they will need someone for the British Grand Prix and beyond. 

It seems logical to put Crutchlow on the bike for the remainder of the season after Silverstone, and so it seems logical to put him on the factory bike in Silverstone as well. That would then mean that Petronas Yamaha SRT need a different rider to replace Morbidelli, who is not scheduled to be back until Aragon. Fortunately, there is no World Superbike round on the weekend of the British Grand Prix, so Yamaha can call on Garrett Gerloff, as they did in Austria. With Toprak Razgatlioglu well and truly in the WSBK title fight and committed wholly to WorldSBK for the next two years at least, Gerloff – who still has the option of MotoGP in 2022 available such is the nature of his having a contract with Yamaha rather than the GRT team for which he rides – would seem to be the best, and possibly only, bet. Yamaha will have to hope that Morbidelli is back in time for his home race in Misano, though, since WorldSBK are in Barcelona that weekend. 

The second question the impossibility of continuation between Yamaha and Vinales poses is that of Vinales’ future. It was assumed the Spaniard will be making his way to Aprilia, however it would be understandable for the Noale manufacturer to reconsider their position on the #12. That, in turn, would open up the second Aprilia seat for 2022.

Finally, it remains to be seen whether the FIM might want to take a decision on Vinales themselves. Yamaha’s conclusion that Vinales’ actions could have posed a danger to his fellow riders would presumably raise an interest with the governing body, as in this respect the situation can be compared with that of Romano Fenati and Stefano Manzi in Misano 2018, when Fenati acted in a way which endangered a competitor, and had his licence suspended. 

Fenati came back, of course, but his actions were directly against Manzi, and so forgivable in time. Vinales, on the other hand, acted against his motorcycle and therefore against the factory he is contracted to, which has the potential to make things so much more complicated for the Spaniard’s future.