Maverick Vinales says that crashing while fighting for victory with Marc Marquez late on in the Australian grand prix gave him extra motivation to seal the win in Malaysia.
Vinales crashed at Phillip Island last weekend while trying to pass Marquez for the lead at the MG hairpin on the final tour, retiring from the race after he was unable to remount his M1.
The Yamaha man banished the ghosts of Australia to dominate the Malaysian GP at Sepang though, heading Marquez by just over three seconds at the conclusion of the contest having led every lap after taking the lead on the opening tour.
Vinales revealed after the race in Malaysia that the frustration of losing a victory he believed was “in my hands” gave him the motivation to put things right at Sepang.
“It was an incredible race, we prepared really well across the weekend,” said Vinales.
“I thought I had great potential on the first lap as I managed to get the lead after only two sectors, I was pushing so hard as I wanted to make up for Australia as it was a race I had a lot of potential too but being in first place here is amazing.
“I felt I had the victory in my hands in Australia but I made a mistake and I crashed, but here all weekend I’ve been very consistent with the tyres, whether they’re new or used so I knew that if I could get into first I had a chance to push hard and open a gap.
“So I’m very happy and I have to say thanks to the team because we’ve improved a lot this year and we’ve been really competitive over the last four or five races, and I’m also getting better all the time with my rhythm in the first laps.
“I’m very happy with the result and I will enjoy the moment.”
Vinales managed to overhaul Alex Rins’ grip on third in the overall points standings as a result of his victory, the Yamaha pilot now holding a seven point lead with just a round remaining at Valencia in two weeks time.
Only he and the Suzuki man now have a chance of the third place spoils, after Danilo Petrucci and Fabio Quartararo fell out of contention due to their lowly respective ninth and seventh place results in the Malaysian encounter.
