Aprilia willing to risk Q1 appearances as it’s “doing something wrong” with 2024 MotoGP bike

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola admits his MotoGP team is “doing something wrong” with its 2024 bike and is willing to risk Q1 appearances to understand its issues in practice.

These comments come after both Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro sounded alarm bells over Aprilia’s performance in last weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Vinales felt Aprilia had “lowered potential” over the first half of the season, as he struggled to 13th in Sunday’s race due to extreme tyre wear while poleman Espargaro could only manage sixth for the same reason.

Speaking to Sky Italy, Rivola noted that the performance of the RS-GP remains strong in sprints, but has clearly lost form in grands prix.

“Since we returned to Europe, there is always an Aprilia on the front row of the grid,” said Rivola, referencing Aprilia’s seven-successive front row starts since the Spanish GP.

“And it [the RS-GP] defends itself quite well in the sprints, but in the long race, from the halfway point onwards, we are not sufficiently competitive.

“There is a performance management issue, related to tyre wear.

“We definitely need to focus on that, maybe even [more than] in weekend planning, even risking having to go through Q1 sometimes.

“We probably need to gather more information on Friday .

“When we go out on track at the start of the grand prix, we are quick straight away, but we tend to [end up suffering] mostly from the tyre issue.

“I think we have more of a set-up, mechanical and electronics [problem].

“And of how we manage the weekend. Maybe we have to try to push the tyre further in terms of wear, look for those details that make the difference.

“We were 40 seconds faster than last year [in the British GP], which is an eternity. But we finished 10 seconds off the winner.

“It's true that we are only 2.5 seconds behind Pecco Bagnaia , but this is a circuit where Aprilia has always been fast.... We have only shown it in terms of overall performance.

“We are doing something wrong. Or rather, Ducati is doing something particularly well, especially since we went back to racing on European circuits.

“I know they took advantage of the Montmelo test, which is a low-grip circuit, to make a step forward. They did it well.”

Aprilia made a strong start to the 2024 season, with Espargaro third in the Qatar sprint, and Vinales winning the Portugal sprint and doing the double in America.

But since then, Aprilia has managed just five further podium appearances, with all of them coming in the half-distance races.

After 10 rounds, it is 160 points down on Ducati in second in the standings and only 14 clear of KTM.