High grip means ‘I can be fast, M1 bike is working fantastic’ for Vinales
Maverick Vinales set a new all-time MotoGP lap record around Assen to claim his second pole position of the 2021 season.
This comes after Vinales’ worst ever finish in the premier class six days ago - last place.
While the Yamaha M1 was ‘working fantastic’ in today's Q2, the Spaniard felt he could have been even quicker had he come into the Dutch TT in better form, as he aims to ‘recover the feeling’.
Speaking after qualifying, Vinales added: "Well, I think actually we work since FP1. Thanks god there was grip on the bike so I can be competitive, I can be fast.
"The biggest problem is when I don’t have grip because we don’t have the ability to make a good set-up.
"Overall, right now I think it was good. I’m very happy, honestly I’m happy. The bike is working fantastic.
"For sure coming with good races I think today I could be faster because still you need to recover the feeling, but it’s fantastic.
"I’m very happy with the work we did all the weekend - most of the practices first, and tomorrow we have a good opportunity to fight for the podium and see where we are."
2021 has shown many of the same signs as previous years for Vinales, as he’s been very fast on high grip circuits and when riding alone, but on the flip side he continues to struggle at the beginning of races and when needing to overtake.
This led to some hard questions during the post qualifying press conference, including one about whether he needs to work on himself and find a way of being more calm - something Vinales doesn’t believe he can do.
Vinales said: "What do you want? That I sleep in the box. C’mon, no it’s enough. Cannot wait more races. It’s enough to have five or six races in a row with really bad results.
"Especially for me what is tough, is that normally even if I have a not good grip condition I was able to make one lap and be in the front.
"But the last races - not even for one lap; I crash once per race (weekend), and maybe I never crash in (another) season.
"For me it is an indicator that we were far away from where we want to be. But as I say, I cannot be more calm."
