MotoGP Australian Grand Prix winner Maverick Vinales admits he was “not really motivated” for this weekend's Phillip Island race, and says he and Yamaha “needed” Sunday's victory.
Vinales recovered from a "stupid" start to dominate a chaotic 27-lap grand prix in Australia to end Yamaha's longest losing streak in its premier class history of 25 races, and tally up his first win since Le Mans last year.
The Spaniard says Phillip Island, along with the cancelled Silverstone event, was a race he knew he could win this year, but after a difficult Japanese Grand Prix last week – in which he was a distant seventh having fought for the win two weeks prior in Thailand – he says lacked motivation ahead of this weekend.
“We had two races I felt I could win: one was Silverstone, and another was here,” said Vinales.
“So to make it was really good, we came into the weekend, I was not really motivated but we have good people around me that keep me high and give me good motivation, and that made me give a little bit more.
“And to make the win here is always so special because it's a really good track for me, I love to win here and I think during the race I improve some lines I was missing in warm-up, I was actually really happy.
“Honestly the season it's been difficult, I needed that win, Yamaha needed that win, we needed it to start next year.
“I said on Friday we need to be good and we need to be motivated to start next year really good, and for sure that win is gonna give us a lot of motivation.
“I'm really happy, all the guys work so good all the weekend. Even yesterday, we were dining together trying to be more confident between all the team.
“The race just work how I thought and what I imagine and I felt this morning I could do it. When I had the chance I just go to show and prove my riding style today was amazing.”
Vinales says he reverted to the set-up he raced with in Thailand, barely altering the bike as he feels his Motegi problems were caused by the team wanting to do “too much” and knew his riding style around Phillip Island could make the bike “perfect”.
“In Motegi finally we decided to change the bike, but here we come back to Thailand bike, exactly the same.
“I just try to ride, try to get used. In Thailand I had a really good feedback from the bike, so in Japan in FP1 I was quite strong, was the same bike as here, but then we start to play a little bit.
“We wanted to do too much, maybe that was the limit of the bike. Here I concentrate on the line, I know if the bike wasn't perfect I could make it perfect because I have some good lines here, I can be fast and I have a lot of speed.
“I think the team did also a good job because we've been working hard on the electronics.
“I start with the electronics not working really good, but as soon as we put the electronics in the correct place I was fast.”
