Viñales owes Cal for Qatar win
Yamaha praise test rider Crutchlow for help with new set-up direction
MAVERICK MOVES Viñales delivers MotoGP masterclass under the Qatar floodlights FULL STORY P64
‘He came from a big factory and gave us some good advice’
Cal Crutchlow may have been 3000 miles away from Qatar but his influence played a major role in helping Maverick Viñales make a victorious start to his 2021 MotoGP title tilt. Cal has only completed one test in his new role as Yamaha’s development rider but Viñales lauded his immediate impact after he ended Ducati’s domination in the Doha desert.
Viñales has been a vocal supporter of Yamaha’s decision to hire Crutchlow, as he believes the former World Supersport Champion’s direct and forthright personality will help accelerate development of the YZ -M1. nd the 25-year-old paid homage to Crutchlow, who uit full-time racing at the end of 2020 after a successful 10-season career in MotoGP with Yamaha, Ducati and Honda.
“Cal worked very hard on the bike and he rides in a very similar way to me and he helped me understand many things. He came from a big factory and gave us some good advice, which was good for the race,” said the former Moto3 World Champion.
Viñales, who experimented with settings evaluated by Crutchlow during pre-season testing at Qatar, added: “In the last day of testing I tried his bike and it was a fantastic fit for me. That kind of thing helps me to stay focused on racing and not worry about on having to try new things.”
Viñales exploited Yamaha’s famed corner speed and turning to negate the humbling top speed advantage of Ducati, who started the opening race supremely confident after dominating practice and ualifying.
He added: “I feel Yamaha is back. The corner speed and the turning was there and that’s so important for us to fight.” ew teammate Fabio Quartararo admitted Viñales was in a different league’ after he fell away from podium contention at the halfway stage to finish fifth. The Frenchman said: “There was a big drop from the rear tyre that I didn’t expect because in the test or during the race weekend it never happened. It was a total disaster. Maverick had much more grip than me. My riding was smooth and I was not burning the tyre like hell to overtake. I was feeling great and the tyre just had a big drop and I don’t understand it. uckily I had great front feeling I could make the lap time in a different way and P5 only three seconds behind Maverick is not that bad.” Yamaha’s top gun on opening night was undoubtedly Viñales, but Petronas S T duo Valentino ossi and Franco Morbidelli misfired badly in Qatar. ossi rolled back the years in spectacular fashion when he just missed the front row in Q2 but a long-standing rear grip issue saw him plummet out of top 10 contention in the race.
“I stress the rear tyre too much and it starts to lose grip, so I’m not fast enough. I struggled a lot and lost a lot of positions,” said the Italian. Morbidelli was totally anonymous and limped home in 18th, with speculation suggesting the holeshot device that lowers the rear of his YZ -M1 off the line had not fully disengaged. Morbidelli said he only raced on at the back out of respect for his team but he said: “It’s like I have no damping in the shock, like I have no shock. I can turn but I need to ride one second slower.”
‘I feel Yamaha is back. The corner speed was there’