Maverick Vinales says his crash during the MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix was a “consequence” of having to push hard in order to compensate for an issue with his Yamaha's electronics.
Vinales dropped to fourth in a “nightmare” opening six laps of the first start as a he struggled with “zero power” on the straights due to a mystery electronics issue, but was soon able to manage the problem and reel in the leading group.
Pushing to make up for his deficit on the straight, Vinales was flicked from his M1 while shadowing the lead group on lap 12 at the last corner.
Without this crash, and had the race not been stopped, he believes Yamaha could have finished one-two, but was pleased to end the season with strong form in conditions which have previously worked against him this year.
“I'm quite happy because I got a problem with the electronics, and it looks like [I had] no anti-wheelie more or less, and the traction control was working and not working,” said Vinales, who ends the year fourth in the standings.
“So the first six laps were like a nightmare for me, everyone was overtaking me on the straight because the bike was like it was without power, zero power.
“So I was losing a lot, like one second every lap. But then I start to think 'what can I do?' So I was not at full gas, I was just at half gas to try to not get the wheelie and [get] the bike to stop.
“So when I understood that, I started to ride faster and faster and faster, and I just think the crash was a consequence of that.
“I was needing to push so much to recover all I was losing on the straights. But, yeah, it was nice to feel strong in the wet because the races I did [previously] in the wet it was really bad, I could never ride.
“But [at Valencia] I could ride the bike, and we were – Valentino and me – we were catching a lot Alex [Rins] and Andrea [Dovizioso].
“So I think if we didn't crash and they didn't stop the race, we were first and second. So it was good to end the season like this, not with the crash but with the feeling. I could be there on wet, that was the most important.”
Explaining his electronics issue further, Vinales says the bike “didn't know if it was banking or not”, and that power delivery between gears was “very unstable”.
“I didn't understand really well, because they didn't check so much,” he added.
“But it was kind of like the bike didn't know if it was banking or not, so for example second gear was ok, but when I shifted to third gear there was no power and then I shifted to fourth and there was more power.
“It was very unstable completely on the wheelie. Also, I was happy that I started good, because even with that problem I achieved fourth with a wheelie.
“But I started good, I think without problems I wouldn't have lost any places. So it's good.”
