Schwantz: Silverstone win could cause Vinales to doubt Yamaha switch

Schwantz, who scored all 25 of his Grand Prix wins on Suzukis, said the victory was a surprise but also a credit to both the ECSTAR-backed team’s programme and the maturity of Vinales.

“I saw both Maverick and Aleix [Espargaro] up in the Top 10 through the weekend,” Schwantz told Motorsport.com. "I thought that was a good sign, but in no way did I expect Maverick to do the disappearing act on raceday. Obviously that owes a lot to his increasing maturity.

“At the start of the year, he crashed out of a podium finish with three laps to go in Argentina and he’s botched his starts a couple of times when he’s been at the front of the grid.

“But he’s matured as a rider and a racer, and I honestly thought he looked invincible at Silverstone.”

Asked if the fraught battle between polesitter Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi and the two Honda riders might have helped exaggerate Vinales’ advantage, Schwantz said he doubted it made any difference to the outcome of the race.

He said: “It looked to me that when [Marc] Marquez went into his overrev moment battling with Rossi that helped Mav a bit, but even at his on-the-edge fastest, I don’t think Marquez was going to catch Maverick.

“If he’d been up with him at the start, could he have raced him? Maybe. If he’d gotten in front and backed Maverick into the others, made it more of a scrap, maybe it wouldn’t have been too easy.

“But Maverick is at that stage where he was determined to lead right away because he’s realised having that clear track in front of you can be 50 percent of the equation.

“And honestly, as good as that bike looked and judging by his comments that he was able to control the race, I think that indicates if Mav had been under some pressure, he could have gone even faster. That says a lot about his confidence but also about Suzuki and their progress.” 

Suzuki – a title contender in 2017?

Schwantz suggested that Vinales success in the British Grand Prix may not immediately open the floodgates of Suzuki visits to Victory Lane, but was still an encouraging step in the right direction.

“It will be interesting to see how they do from this point on,” said Schwantz who scored four British GP wins, but all at Donington Park. “Silverstone is not a unique place – it’s long and fast – and it was the last place I would have expected a Suzuki to dominate like that. They’ve always seemed to lack at the very top end, in the second half of a straight.

“Last year when I went to Sachsenring, it seemed like the team were getting all their ducks in a row and were hoping that the track would suit them and they were absolutely horrible. Now they’ve made their breakthrough on a track where no-one expected them to shine.

“You heard Rossi talking about the Yamaha lacking a little bit of edge grip and traction grip, so was Silverstone a case of Yamaha missing just a little bit and losing their edge? Maybe. Honda seemed to be good on traction which helped neutralise Yamaha’s power advantage.

“Or was it Suzuki just absolutely nailing it? Or was it a combination of all those factors? We’ll get more of an idea as we see how they go on very different kinds of tracks the rest of the year.

“The funny thing is, the guy who’s probably scratching his head right now – and asking the same questions that we are – is Maverick. If I were him, I’d be wondering if this is going to be one of those seven-year patterns where Suzuki’s just getting good now, and he’s jumping ship to a Yamaha team where the world revolves around Rossi.”