Maverick Vinales will depart from the Monster Energy Yamaha team at the close of the 2021 MotoGP season after both parties reached a mutual agreement, it has been confirmed.
The Catalan’s contract with the Iwata factory ran up to the end of 2022, but rising tensions inside the box, as well as a belief from the rider’s end that the current malaise that has gripped him this year would not change unless a dramatic course of action was taken.
An official statement from Yamaha read, “Following Maverick Vinales‘ request, Yamaha have agreed to put an early end to their current two-year contract. Currently in their fifth season together, they mutually decided to go their separate ways after this year.
“Both parties are committed to putting in their maximum effort for the remainder of the 2021 MotoGP season and ending the relationship on a high note.”
It is believed the two parties came to this agreement on Friday evening at the Dutch TT, five days on from Vinales’ disastrous outing in Germany, where he started the race from 21st and finished 17th and at the back of the field.
On Thursday he was still deeply troubled by the ordeal and told journalists he had “never been so angry in my life” at how the weekend had gone. The fact his teammate Fabio Quartararo, new to the team for 2021, has won four races, leads the MotoGP championship by 34 points and has been the season’s standout rider to date has only exacerbated matters.
Not even a second place finish in Sunday’s Dutch TT could mend the fractious relationship. If anything, it confirmed the ill-feeling from the rider’s end. His words and body language on the podium and parc fermé hinted at irreparable differences. Asked if it was possible to show his full potential in his current team, he said, “No, it’s not possible. We have many issues that will stay with me.”
Yamaha team boss Massimo Meregalli explained the frustration from Yamaha’s side. “To finish last for sure is not his position. Wednesday when we started preparing this GP we checked some data. We also saw that during the race he was the fastest Yamaha in terms of fastest lap. The bike wasn’t as bad as he pointed out. Here we said he would start leading FP1 and basically he did. It’s frustrating also for us to understand this kind of behavior. From the Sachsenring to here the bike was changed a bit but not enough for this.”
It’s believed Aprilia will be Vinales’ future destination. Pressed on this matter on Sunday, Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said, “We need to know if the rider is on the market. If he is on the market, if he is available then we will try our best to convince him.”
This season Vinales has hired a new personal manager, Giovanni Balestra, while his father Angel, who was not part of his inner circle in recent times, was present in his garage over the weekend at Assen.
Of the split, Yamaha’s Managing Director Lin Jarvis said, “It is with sadness that we will say farewell to Maverick at the end of the year. We are in the middle of our fifth season together and over the years we have achieved many highs but also had to manage many lows.
“After the German GP, which was the most difficult weekend of our partnership, we had important discussions in Assen and came to the conclusion that it would be in the interest of both parties to go our separate ways in the future. Yamaha will put in their maximum effort – as we always have done – to give full support to Maverick and finish this season in the very best way possible.”
In his time at Yamaha, Vinales has won eight times and claimed 16 further podium finishes. But across those four and a half seasons, he has worked with three different crew chiefs as he searched for the magic formula to help him rediscover the form that saw him win three of his first five races for the factory. Not once has he sustained a championship challenge. Neil Morrison
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The Link LonkJune 29, 2021 at 05:25AM
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Maverick Vinales to Leave Yamaha at the end of 2021 - Cycle News
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