Qatar MotoGP pre-season test pacesetter Maverick Vinales says Yamaha still 'needs to improve' acceleration and edge grip heading to next week's first race of 2019.
Vinales topped the first and final days of the the Qatar running, the Spaniard two tenths clear of the field overall with a 1:54.208s set in Monday's session.
After admitting on Sunday Yamaha had not made any gains with its electronics to improve its continued acceleration woes, Vinales says this was still an issue on Monday, while also lamenting a lack of edge grip.
“Honestly, the conclusions are we need to improve,” he stated on Monday.
“I was riding really good on the track, I felt I was going really fast with the amount of grip the track had.
“But anyway we need to improve, I don't have really good grip on the edge [of the tyre] and I think our competitors they take a lot of profit of the tyre on the edge. So we need to keep working, especially on that side.
“I think on the acceleration side we improve quite a lot since Sepang, and at the moment I'm quite satisfied about what we have in the braking area. But in acceleration we need to improve.”
Vinales believes if Yamaha can improve its acceleration it will be “ready” to fight for victory in the Qatar season-opener next week.
“First of all we have to improve the acceleration side, and then we're going to be ready,” he added.
“I think next race is going to be very important for us, especially to see if we can win [back] edge grip.
“Our bike has really good things, really positive things, but also negatives.”
Team-mate Valentino Rossi made a substantial improvement on the final day after leaping to fifth from 19th on Sunday, and feels Yamaha he is “now ready” to start the season.
“For me it was a good day, we work in a good way and I was quite strong, also with the race tyres my pace is quite good,” said the Italian.
“Also in the time attack, I'm not bad, I'm P5 at the end of the three days. It's not so bad.
“For me also the race pace is quite good, even if I think we need something more to try to fight.
“But we closed the gap very much because we put it all together, all the [new] stuff.
“So I think for this night we are ready, and now we see in two weeks if it's enough.”
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