Maverick Vinales says a team communication in MotoGP Q1 at Mugello to warn him of a chasing Tito Rabat was 'key' to him securing third on the grid.
After a difficult FP3 in which the Yamaha rider failed to improve on his Friday best, Vinales had to go through Q1.
Sitting in second in the final two minutes of the session, Avintia rider Rabat was on a lap which threatened Vinales' Q2 progression, and so Yamaha sent a dashboard communication to alert its rider.
Vinales rolled off at the final corner, and Rabat missed a place in Q2 by just over a tenth of a second, while the Yamaha rider went on to put his M1 on the front row in third with a 1:46.304s.
The Yamaha rider says he would likely be starting 13th had it not been for the team warning him of Rabat's presence.
“Luckily, because if he had the slipstream I wouldn't have been third,” Vinales commented when asked about the team's message to him in Q1.
“Luckily the team sent me the message, I just give up the lap, and I think this was the key to being on the front row.
“This morning went quite bad, so I didn't expect to be in the first row because in the morning I couldn't improve the laptime from yesterday.
“But, finally, we work hard in the garage, we work on the problems where we struggle a lot, and FP4 seems to do a big step, especially on the rhythm with used tyres.
“On the qualifying, after Q1 was difficult. In Q2 I used one medium and another soft. Maybe it wasn't best combination, but I feel good, the team is working better every day.
“It's a tough moment, but when I have confidence for sure I can be in the front.”
Rossi: Something old helped us in Barcelona test
Vinales' teammate Valentino Rossi claimed his first pole since Motegi 2016 in front of his home crowd on Saturday, having so far failed to make the front row this season.
Struggling for much of the year in hot conditions, Rossi says “something old” tried by Yamaha with the bike in a test in Barcelona last week has “improved the balance” of the M1.
“To come back on the front row with the pole position is something special, also in Mugello [it's] something more,” said the Italian.
“So we work on the bike in the test n Barcelona, we are able to improve a little bit the balance.
“We didn't have a lot of new stuff, but we try to find something [that worked] in the past, something old to try to understand.
“The reality is I feel good with the bike, also during the weekend we try to improve the feeling with the front, the corner speed, the turning, and it was good.”
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