Second in Qatar would've been seen as a "disaster" for Vinales

Race conditions last Sunday looked to be against Vinales, who never gave his rivals a break during pre-season testing by becoming the fastest rider on track in seven of the eleven official sessions held, and earning pole position in Qatar with a stunning laptime during Friday practice.

The bad weather at Losail caused several delays on the grid and a lack of grip on track, and a quickly dropping temperature could have become an advantage for the Spaniard's rivals, especially after Vinales’ poor start.

However, Vinales played his hand to perfection, fighting back to eventually claim victory on his Yamaha debut.

“We could feel a kind of strange atmosphere where a second place from Vinales would have been seen as a disaster," Forcada told Motorsport.com.

"It looked like there was no option other than winning, and something different than that would have been a failure. That's a lot of pressure, and even more due to race conditions.

“Well, he didn’t get his best start and Zarco was a bit faster. Then he waited, keeping calm when [Andrea] Iannone crashed just in front of him.

“He opened a gap to start the last lap with some margin over the Ducati [of Andrea Dovizioso], a bike that is quite fast under acceleration from fourth gear.

"That was the only way to stop the Ducati on the straight. He did it perfectly."