Maverick Vinales has signed for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini for the 2022 MotoGP season, the Italian team have announced today.
The Spaniard has signed a one-year contract, with the option for renewal. He will line-up alongside fellow Spaniard Aleix Espargaro.
The announcement comes after the relationship between Vinales and Yamaha, his current team, has become increasingly fractured over the course of this season.
Following his victory in the opening race in Qatar, the Spaniard has been comprehensively outperformed by new teammate Fabio Quartararo.
While Quartararo has made the bike work, leading the championship by 47 points after picking up four race wins and three further podiums, Vinales has repeatedly complained of a lack of rear grip, something he has emphasised throughout his four-and-a-half years at Yamaha.
This issue came to a boiling point at the German Grand Prix in June when Vinales finished last of all the runners in nineteenth while Quartararo finished third. After the race he accused Yamaha of a “lack of respect,” making clear that the Japanese team had done nothing to solve the grip problem despite his complaining since round three in Portugal.
A week later, following the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen, Yamaha announced that, at the request of Vinales, the two sides would part ways a year before his contract was due to expire in 2022.
Despite being a slower motorcycle, the move to Aprilia should therefore be good for the Spaniard: needing a fresh start, he has cut a frustrated and despondent figure in recent weeks. Following his second-place finish in Assen, his best result since the opening round victory, he showed no emotion, a stark contrast to his victorious teammate who was jubilantly celebrating with his Yamaha colleagues.
Then, following a disappointing Styrian Grand Prix after the summer break, a race in which Vinales had initially looked fast until it was red flagged, the Spaniard revved his engine on the limiter numerous times during the final few laps, deliberately damaging it.
Later apologising and describing his actions as motivated by frustration at how his race had developed, this led Yamaha to withdraw him for last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the further caveat that they would analyse the telemetry further before announcing whether Vinales would finish the rest of the season with the team.
On his day, the Spaniard is undoubtedly one of the quickest riders on the grid. Hopefully, for his and the sport’s sake, he can recapture some of that form with a team that is developing year on year.
Featured image by Box Repsol – 2021 MotoGP, Round 05, Le Mans, France, CC BY 2.0; no changes made.