Maverick Vinales has been in the spotlight at this stage of the season and is coming off a 2nd place in Barcelona and a 6th in Austria, a track that, in theory, was not the most favorable for the Aprilia machines. And according to the Spanish rider, the last races have been the result of a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors:
– The group is doing a good job, myself included. Austria on paper was not a good track, but we were there in second position (in Q2) with a good pace. So basically I feel like the track doesn’t matter. If you have the feeling, you will be fast. The last 6/7 races I’ve had a good feeling. I managed to improve a lot, work on myself, be more perfect and that’s great. I have to say it’s one of the best Fridays we’ve had so far, but we’re calm. We realize it’s only Friday. And we need to put in a lot of effort tomorrow (in Q2) to be on the front row.
Regarding the importance of each race and whether some are more important than others, Vinales states that every race and every training session is important, as is understanding with the team. The Aprilia rider also mentions that this weekend there are many competitors with the pace to be at the top of the table and he wants to be one of them:
– It is important to be fast on any track, anywhere, in any training session. In the end, the important thing is that I always feel good on the bike, especially with the team understanding what I need to be fast. Where I improved a lot was in accuracy. It wasn’t perfect on the track. And now when I go to the track I can be more perfect with the lines and understand the bike better. I’m very confident that we can do a good job at the end of the day. The Ducati here are very fast. I see other riders with a lot of pace. But I want to be in that mix. I want to fight. And my goal is to fight at the front in each race. It doesn’t matter if we are first, second, third or fourth. The important thing is to fight until the end.