Maverick Vinales tips ‘strong’ Aprilia weekend: ‘Seeing the downforce…’

Although yet to find a comfortable balance for the 2024 Aprilia, Maverick Vinales feels the extra downforce it generates can help deliver a ‘strong’ weekend on the roller-coaster layout of Portimao.

Aleix Espargaro has felt at home from his first laps on the new aerodynamically advanced bike, but team-mate Vinales and Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira are still trying to adapt to a machine Vinales describes as “a really big change”.

“Doha didn't reflect our potential, so we must keep working, keep focus,” said Vinales, who finished ninth (Sprint) and tenth (GP) in the Lusail races.

“Portimao has been a good track for me but also for the bike. And especially for this year’s bike, I think it's going to be strong.  Seeing the downforce and all the stuff that the bike is bringing, it might be a really good track for us.”

Vinales began last season as the top Aprilia in fifth (Sprint) and second (GP) place at Portimao.

The Spaniard finished the year confident he had found a consistent balance with the ’23 RS-GP, especially for time attacks. But it’s been back to the drawing board with the 2024.

“At the end of the year, we discovered the balance, I really liked it to push, and the bike allowed me to push. We were on the front row, even on tracks where we usually struggled like Austria,” he said.

“So basically it's a matter of balance for me with this bike. Somehow, sometimes when I put a new tyre, I don't turn and I cannot make good lines. So I'm not able to take out the maximum from the bike.”

He added: “Of course, the first impression when I jumped into the new bike was very different from what I was expecting. Because the change was really big, to be honest, but probably in a good direction.

“So we need to still work, we need laps with this bike. With the 2023 bike we've been one year and at the end we accomplished a really good setting.

“Basically the bike of this year has much more front grip. And a little bit less rear grip. And it gives you a different feeling. Especially when you go for a time attack.

“But it's a matter of balance because the weight distribution is a little bit different. So I'm not worried about that because I know we're going to recover the speed and we're going to be fast.

“Of course, we left a [‘23] bike that I was feeling already good and now we need to do it again. That's the only thing.”

“For me, it's a matter of setting,” Vinales reiterated. “We need to change the setting and try to recover that rear grip that we need.”