MotoGP Silverstone: ‘I have my eye on the victory’ - Maverick Vinales ready to take next step
While a first MotoGP win since the 2021 season-opener at Qatar appeared to be on the cards, Maverick Vinales ultimately played seconꦅd best to Francesco Bagnaia, with the Ducati rider claiming win #4 of the season.
Vinales, who demonstrated sensational late race pace in order to mount a challenge with two laps remaining, attempted to take the lead at ‘Village’ [turn 13], however, Bagnaia did something Jack Miller and Alex Rins could not, which was fight back immediately into turn🌳 14.
On the limit of rear tyre grip at t✃hat stage, Vinales then lost momentum at the beginning of the final lap as he ran wide on three occasions.
"With four laps to go I started to lose the rear because I really pushed," said Vinales. "With ten lﷺaps to go I started to make 1m 59s and I pushed a lot. I pushed maybe too much♏. But that was the way and it nearly worked. We need to keep trying."
On a day where Aleix Espargaro appeared to be struggling for pace due to injury - Espargaro has since dismissed t❀ಌhe notion that his fractured right ankle was the problem - it quickly became apparent that Vinales was the team’s best shot of taking a second win in the MotoGP era.
Having gelled with the RS-GP22 in recent rounds, a first win for the Spaniard is now the clꦫear focus during the second half of t♏he season.
Vinales a♎dded: "Well I’m happy [with second] but I have my eyes on the prize [la𓂃ughs]. I have my eye on the victory because we believe a lot in that.
"But second is a fantastic result for us and I started the season where we expect and step by step we are building ♋up."
‘Aprilia has really good traction’ - Vinales, but is it better than Ducati?
One of the biggest reasons for Vinales’ late charge at Silverstone was rear traction which seemed to be better than the three D🔜ucatis a🍒round him of Jorge Martin, Miller and Bagnaia.
This ♓comes after Catalunya where Luca Mar✱ini was unable to battle Espargaro on the final lap, claiming the Aprilia man also had better rear grip on that occasion.
However, Vinalesღ remains unsure whether Aprilia is a step ahead of🥂 Ducati in that area: "Well, you can see that the winner was a Ducati and today he [Bagnaia] was stronger. I tried very hard and there are a few things to improve for sure.
"Also, I can improve my way of riding t🏅he bike and we know our limit is not here. As we mentioned many times, this is a process and it’s a process we are getting in the right way.&๊nbsp;
"We are racing well but I want to make the next step. To make the nextꦺ step you have to get third, second, and that consistency that brings you to the next point.
"I had good traction, really good traction at the end of the race, more than in th𒀰ꦗe beginning of the race so it means we keep the tyres well.
"It’🦄s a good race to learn and to get data because all weekend we were between the top three. It is important to understand well what we did this weekend to bring it to th⛎e next one. I feel very strong and that we are able to do it."
While each race is diffeౠrent and tyre grip might not always play a key role in the outcome, Ducati has seven wins compared to Aprilia’s one so far this season.
