Breaking news
MotoGP Styrian GP
Vinales explains dramatic brake 'explosion' in Styria MotoGP
Maverick Vinales says the brake failure which forced him to jump off his Yamaha at 130mph in the Styrian Grand Prix was something he "never had during my MotoGP career".
Lewis Duncan
Published: Aug 23, 2020, 3:14 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Yamaha riders have endured brake concerns in both Red Bull Ring weekends, with Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo's Austrian GP hindered by issues he branded "dangerous".
Vinales was passed by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in the early stages of the Styrian GP, before dropping to 10th by lap 10 as he began to lose brake pressure.
The problem seemed to resolve itself, before it got worse again, with the Yamaha rider raising his hand to signal he had an issue on lap 13.
Then on lap 17 on the way into Turn 1, his front brake "exploded" and he had to jump off, with the bike slamming into the barrier and bringing out the red flag.
The restarted race was eventually won by Tech 3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira after a final corner move on Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro.
Explaining his crash, Vinales said: "I was quite fast, I was feeling fantastic on the first laps, I was pushing Dovi, but as we don't have top speed, you can see I could not overtake.
"I overtook one time and I said 'okay, now I can go forward in front', but then he overtake me on the straight very easily.
"I was just waiting to get the rhythm, but then I started to lose the front pressure of the brake, I went out [of the track] one time.
"I make three laps very slow in 1m26s, then I push again at 1m24s, then again without brakes, and then Quartararo, Valentino [Rossi] and [Danilo] Petrucci overtake me.
"Then suddenly the brake was good. So, I could make 1m22s, 1m24s on mediums and I was recovering a lot to Valentino and Fabio, but then suddenly at corner one the brake exploded, so [it was] impossible to do anything."
When asked if he'd had any issues with his brakes before, he added: "No, no, it's something I never had during all my MotoGP career.
"Maybe [the brake pressure would] go down a little bit.
"I played with the lever [to adjust it], but on every lap I was adjusting the lever corner by corner so I couldn't do nothing."
Though Red Bull Ring is notorious for its hard braking zones, Vinales doesn't feel this was the main cause of his failure.
Bike of Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing after his crash
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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 Styria MotoGP: Oliveira makes last-turn pass to win thriller
Next article Mir “angry” after Espargaro escapes track limits penalty
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
Maverick Viñales
Maverick Vinales to undergo extensive medical checks: “If I have something broken, I'll stop”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
14 h
Maverick Vinales to undergo extensive medical checks: “If I have something broken, I'll stop”
Maverick Vinales: “If I stay at home, I don’t get paid”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Australian GP
Maverick Vinales: “If I stay at home, I don’t get paid”
Maverick Vinales “thinking every night” about future: “I haven’t given up yet”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Japanese GP
Maverick Vinales “thinking every night” about future: “I haven’t given up yet”
More from
Yamaha Factory Racing
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Alex Marquez undergoes surgery on his right shoulder and begins recovery at home
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
Alex Marquez undergoes surgery on his right shoulder and begins recovery at home
How MotoGP teams and riders are organising themselves for their arrival in Qatar
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
How MotoGP teams and riders are organising themselves for their arrival in Qatar
Latest news
Frankie Muniz "a little sore" but released from hospital after Daytona crash
General
Misc General 12 min
Frankie Muniz "a little sore" but released from hospital after Daytona crash
Frankie Muniz transported to hospital after Daytona practice crash
General
Misc General 4 h
Frankie Muniz transported to hospital after Daytona practice crash
Ford unveils new Mustang body for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 4 h
Ford unveils new Mustang body for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
IndyCar 2026 season review: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 8 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
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