After making a very energetic start, which catapulted him from third place on the grid to the front of the pack (lap two), the Yamaha rider shrank from the first drops of water and was gobbled up by the pack on lap four , the time before the majority visited the workshops to carry out the change of motorcycle.
After getting on the bike with rubber tires, Viñales rejoined the track in eighth, and stayed at those levels until crossing under the checkered flag in tenth, more than 40 seconds behind the winner, Jack Miller, and 26 seconds by Fabio Quartararo, his teammate in the official Yamaha team, who closed the podium.
This result can only be interpreted as a severe setback for the rider from Roses (Girona), who falls to fifth place in the general points table, although with less than one race behind the new leader, his workshop neighbor.
“There are no excuses; I made a mistake in the section between turns 8 and 9, which made me lose the thread. From then on, I no longer knew if the track was dry or wet”, Viñales summed up, very frustrated by the potential shown even before it started to rain.
“In the dry I could have escaped. Our bike works with a lot of water or in the dry, but it doesn’t work well in mixed conditions”, clarified the Spaniard.
In that sense, Viñales was asked how Quartararo had managed to finish on the podium, crossing the finish line almost half a minute before him.
“Fabio was braver than me when the rain came and we were all on slick tires. In that impasse he took 20 seconds from me ”, closed the Yamaha rider.
The photos of Maverick Viñales at the 2021 MotoGP French Grand Prix
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
