Maverick Vinales admits there are less “cons” with the Yamaha around Phillip Island, after ending Friday's MotoGP Australian Grand Prix practice third fastest.
Yamaha looked to have made a breakthrough with its troubled M1 during the Thailand weekend when Vinales finished third, though Japan saw a return to form with Vinales a distant seventh.
However, Vinales – who was third in last year's race – topped the opening session at Phillip Island on Friday and was third overall, two tenths from Suzuki's Andrea Iannone.
Vinales believes the flowing 2.76-mile Australian venue masks Yamaha's acceleration and traction issues, with the circuit allowing the Spaniard to ride “by your riding style”.
“Yeah, it's been good. It's always nice to be in Phillip Island, it's a nice layout, so I can push myself even more,” Vinales said.
“I'm happy, I'm happy because we work in the correct way today. Maybe in the afternoon we try a bit too much, and we have to continue with the same bike.
“I had a great feeling with the bike, so if I can be really concentrated and precise, we can be there in the top three.
“For sure the track [hides] a little bit less the cons of the bike, it's really flowing so you just have to ride a little bit by your riding style.
“It seems to work better, but still there is tomorrow and Sunday. So today it's been good, positive.
“Let's see tomorrow. I will focus a lot on the electronics, because I still don't think we are in the right place. So we still have a lot of work to do in that area.”
Teammate Valentino Rossi struggled more, the Italian only just making it into the provisional Q2 places in 10th, and was a second off the pace.
Rossi chalks his lacking form up to a medium rear tyre which worked well for him last year, but less so on Friday, while the Italian admitted the strong pace of Andrea Dovizioso – with whom he is fighting for second in the standings – and Ducati has him worried.
“It was a difficult day because we work a lot with the medium rear because last year it was good, but this year it doesn't have a lot of grip, so I was not very strong,” he said.
“But in the end, I put the soft in and my pace was quite good. But I’m still not very happy, we have to work on the balance of the bike because in some places I’m not very fast.
“And as always we have some problems in acceleration because we have some spin. But from the other side Maverick was not so bad, so we have to work on the balance.
“On paper this is the track where we are stronger than in the last three. But this is just on paper, unfortunately for us today Dovi was very fast, so it means that the Ducati also works well here at Phillip Island, so it will be hard.
“But from the other side we have to make a good job, try to work because usually, it’s a positive track so we need to try and do a good race."
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