Breaking news
MotoGP
Vinales responds to Quartararo's title threat comments
Maverick Vinales says Fabio Quartararo calling Andrea Dovizioso “more” of a MotoGP title rival than the factory Yamaha rider currently is “perfect” as it takes the pressure off him.
Lewis Duncan
Published: Aug 20, 2020, 2:40 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Vinales currently trails Quartararo by 19 points in the standings following a 10th-place finish in last week’s Austrian Grand Prix, while the Petronas Yamaha rider crossed the line in eighth.
Dovizioso’s win last weekend elevated him to second in the championship, 11 points adrift of Quartararo, which led the Frenchman to peg the Ducati rider as more of a rival given his experience of being in the championship fight.
Vinales took no issue with this comment, and admits he is still not thinking about the title while his struggles on the M1 since the Brno race continue.
“I think it’s good that they think like that because takes a lot of pressure out of me, so for me it’s perfect,” Vinales said when Quartararo’s comments from last Sunday were put to him ahead of the Styrian GP.
“I mean, for sure we haven’t shown our potential yet because we haven’t had a good race.
“We had a few of podiums, but then a lot of mistakes during the races. So, I think we need to get rhythm, I think we need to get to good tracks for us, especially Misano, Aragon – really good tracks for me, for my riding style.
“But we’ll see. Now I don’t even think about the championship, only about improving the bike because there are a few things to improve and then we will see where we are.
“But for me, I’m taking it [race-by-race], trying to improve the bike in the race and this is the most important thing.”
Read Also:
Vinales struggled in the early laps of the restarted Austrian GP with a slipping clutch, which forced him into a recovery ride from the back of the grid.
But he also battled the inconsistencies with the Yamaha over race distance which has plagued him over the last few years, and admitted this made racing “difficult to enjoy” right now.
Vinales sees a second race at the Red Bull Ring as a “big opportunity” to get on top of the issues he suffered in the race.
“Well I think overall we made a really good weekend, because Saturday morning I was out of Q2 and then we were able to improve a lot our lap times and be fast and consistent,” he said in response to a question from Motorsport.com.
“And then we make the pole position. So now we need to find out what we need to improve for the race.
“Sure, this weekend is a very good opportunity to do it and we’re going to try to do it.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Zarco to miss Friday practice for Styrian GP
Next article Crutchlow “confident” of staying in MotoGP next year
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
More from
Andrea Dovizioso
Andrea Dovizioso: “Marc Marquez’s situation is much more serious than it seems”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Andrea Dovizioso: “Marc Marquez’s situation is much more serious than it seems”
Yamaha signs Andrea Dovizioso as MotoGP test rider
MotoGP
MotoGP
Italian GP
Yamaha signs Andrea Dovizioso as MotoGP test rider
Dovizioso to test Yamaha MotoGP bike in Misano this week
MotoGP
MotoGP
Dovizioso to test Yamaha MotoGP bike in Misano this week
Latest news
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
12 min
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Brazilian GP
1 h
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe