Maverick Vinales says that he took a “victory or nothing” approach towards the Australian grand prix at Phillip Island, one that saw him crash out with just three corners remaining.
The Yamaha man had looked the man to beat heading into the race having secured pole by 0.551 ahead of fellow M1 pilot Fabio Quartararo, with the nearest non-Yamaha the Honda of Marc Marquez in third 0.724 in-arrears.
Vinales made a dreadful start as the lights went out though, slipping to sixth and having to fight his way through if he wanted a chance to secure his second victory of the season.
He slowly but surely worked his forward before moving into the lead with 18 laps remaining and tried to escape, although Marquez was having none of it.
The recently crowned world champion stuck in the wheel tracks of Vinales for the remainder of the race, utilising his common strategy of backing off down the straights so as to not give too much away, and then passing heading onto the final lap down the front straight.
Vinales attempted to fight back, but pushed too hard through Lukey Heights and lost the rear of the M1 on the entry to MG, flying into the gravel and out of the race as a result.
The Spaniard revealed that he “tried my best” to re-pass Marquez, believing that he may have gone down moments later anyway as he looked to dive down the inside of Marquez at the MG hairpin in a do-or-die manoeuvre.
“Well actually I’m very happy because I gave my best every lap, every single lap,” explained Vinales.
“But for sure we have things to improve, you could see in the race on the TV.
“So we need to keep working, keep improving the bike. I think we have very positive points and some that we have to improve but as a rider I gave my best.
“If not there, the crash was 10 metres later because I already attacked to go in, so it was there or later, I tried my best. When you try your best… OK for me today was victory or nothing, I think it was the best.”
Vinales is hopeful his strong Australian pace would translate to a competitive showing next weekend at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, admitting it is a venue he enjoys.
“Sepang is a track that I really like. Here the feelings were very positive. I rode fast in all the areas, especially on the race pace we were very fast.”
“We need to keep working, for sure it won’t be easy in Sepang because of the long straights. But we’ll keep working and we’ll be there for sure, we’re really motivated as always.”
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