Maverick Vinales has expressed concerns that Aprilia’s situation in MotoGP is deteriorating with each race after an unfortunate performance at the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone.
Vinales, who secured a victory at the Americas GP, faced significant tyre degradation on his RS-GP’s medium tyres and fell from eighth on the starting grid to a disappointing 13th place, marking his worst finish of the 2024 season.
His teammate Aleix Espargaro also struggled, dropping from pole position to sixth place, finishing nearly 10 seconds behind the race winner Enea Bastianini on the factory Ducati.
The previous weekend’s disappointing results for Aprilia were underscored by Espargaro’s victory at the same event last year and the fast performance of their factory-run RS-GPs in the earlier part of the season.
This recent downturn in Aprilia’s performance is troubling for Vinales, who has called on the Noale-based team to urgently address the issues and turn their fortunes around in MotoGP.
“Honestly, it’s tough to take the result, it’s not what we aim for,” said the Spaniard, who will be joining KTM’s Tech3 team next season alongside Bastianini.
“We need to figure out what’s lacking because the rear tyre degradation is abnormal. We must understand why we haven’t been at the level we should be in the last four races.
“After just six laps, my tyre was completely gone, and my times went from 1m59s to 2m01s. We need to determine what’s causing this tyre wear because I never exceed the speed limit in the race while trying to maintain control [of the pace].
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“During the sprint, I was sometimes able to compete, but once we switched to the medium tyres in the race, we were really just trying to stay afloat and didn’t feel strong at all.
“It’s crucial for the factory to pause and rethink how we can turn this situation around because it continues to decline. We need to find out how to improve again.”
Ducati dominated the top five positions in the race, further extending their lead over competitors in MotoGP. Espargaro and Tech3’s Pedro Acosta were the only non-Ducati riders to finish in the top 10 of the British GP, illustrating just how ahead Ducati currently is.
However, Vinales believes that the current results reflect Aprilia’s regression in the hierarchy rather than a significant advancement on Ducati’s part, pointing out that RS-GP’s innate tendency for high tyre consumption remains an issue.
“It seems we have lost competitiveness,” said Vinales, who is still the sole rider to defeat Ducati for a grand prix win in 2024.
“I don’t think Ducati improved; we have lowered our potential, and we need to reclaim our earlier performance.
“I’m trying to figure out what we are lacking, but honestly, it’s difficult because I’m riding the bike at its limit, yet the lap times and tyre management are not where they need to be.”
Vinales also noted a decline in his own pace on the Aprilia, emphasizing that his qualifying performance in this year’s British GP was slower than in 2022, when he managed to qualify on the front row.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Despite his teammate Espargaro setting a new lap record at Silverstone during qualifying, it’s important to highlight that MotoGP returned to the Formula 1 layout in 2023, altering the starting point to the Hamilton Straight next to the Silverstone Wing.
“It’s hard to say, but I doubt they [Ducati] made a significant advancement. It seems we have merely slowed down,” he remarked.
“I’m not riding to my full capacity. We regressed because in ’22 I managed a 57.7 [actually 1m57.865] in qualifying, whereas this year I did a 58.1 before crashing, which is abnormal.
“We are definitely losing pace, and we need to regain that potential we displayed in the early part of the season. We must figure out how, though I’m unsure why, we just need to find a way to improve.”
