He’s Maverick by name and nature
Who is the real Maverick Viñales? After an anonymous Qatar, he was a hero at Portimao. Close to pole, he took a perfect Sprint win, and came close on Sunday, only to have glory wrested away.
Maverick was reticent for most of 2023, but for three main-race podiums; but Saturday’s Sprint win was an epic, his first on an Aprilia.
A gorilla mask on the podium started celebrations. On Sunday he wore a mask of pure frustration as he stalked back into the Aprilia pit after a last-lap crash.
He’d been a close second until then, with (admittedly fading) hopes of a first full-length Aprilia win until he suddenly slowed starting the final lap. Then the bike locked its rear wheel and threw him off as he ran wide at the first corner.
“Gearbox” was the terse explanation, burying suspicions he was celebrating a lap early.
Already the first to win on three different makes in MotoGP (Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia) he was close to a full-race win on Sunday – twice within two tenths of leader Martin, and never further back than one second.
Another chalk-and-cheese weekend for a puzzlingly erratic rider. He walked out on his Moto3 team in 2012, then won the title in 2013. After one strong Moto2 season, he gave Suzuki their first MotoGP win in 2016. Eight more wins on a Yamaha between 2017 and 2021 preceded another meltdown that saw him dumped mid-season, shortly after claiming pole and second at Assen.
Aprilia rescued him, and he has begun to repay their faith with interest – but only now and then.
Has the real Viñales returned as a reliable competitor? Or was this another flash in the pan, timed just as rumours link Quartararo with a job-threatening switch to Aprilia?
‘He’s won for Suzuki, Yamaha and now Aprilia’