MotoGP is evolving more and currently there is a lot going on the bikes, from the engine itself or, more recently, the changes regarding the aerodynamic. Raúl Fernández spoke about the matter and how he understood much of the RS-GP 24 bike after testing it, drawing a close comparison of him with Maverick Viñales.
The Trackhouse Racing rider was invited to Furious and Curious podcast, in which he first spoke about the path the MotoGP bikes have taken, he who is the only Aprilia rider with a 2023 bike: ‘The problem above all is that today you are testing one of our motorcycles and the riding mentality is totally different from a normal motorcycle. With so much spoiler, with so much system… this whole system must be understood. The problem with motorcycles is that, with a minimal change, one more wing or one less wing, the change is quick and you notice it as a rider’.
And, looking at the model that Aleix Espargaró, Maverick Viñales and Miguel Oliveira are riding, there are a some different that he felt after trying the newest version in the Jerez tests, recalling a similarity with… Viñales: ‘I tried the 24 in the Jerez test, the post-race, I understood many things. Because during the first races, especially I have always said that I compare myself a lot with Maverick. At the end in Aprilia everything is very open but I compare myself a lot with Maverick because he is a person who rides very similar to me’.
The #12’s riding style, he believes, is very similar to his own, as R. Fernández said, saying without hiding that he likes the way his factory compatriot rides:
– The only thing was that there were things that he did that I didn’t understand how he could do them. When I tried the bike I cleared my doubts and I understand. For me, Maverick is a person that I have greatly appreciated since I was a child, but it is true that there I understood that the bike is there, in the end Aprilia has done a good job and they are always going in a slightly better direction. The motorcycle is not black and white, but it is true that I understood a little there.