Frightening conclusion of the race Maverick Viñales ! Noting the gradual loss of his brakes during the race, which had taken him from sixth place in the first lap to twelfth after halfway through the race, the Spanish driver insisted on staying on the track at all costs, until he reached the point of no return in the 17th passage and to see them break in full braking, approaching the first corner of the Red Bull Ring.
An episode which forced the Yamaha factory rider to have to decide in a fraction of a second to throw himself to the ground and let his mount slip away at nearly 220 km / h in the gravel and finish his race brutally against a protection wall. Shocking, the image of the pilot having to flee his machine ending up in flames had something to shake up, but it is an astonishingly serene Viñales focused on the positive aspects of his weekend that we found a few moments later in an interview !
It seems obvious that you had a problem with the brakes but you had already raised your hand before: was it already for this problem?
Yes, I had started well enough and I felt very good on the first lap: I passed Dovi, but as you could see, I had no top speed. I managed to overtake it and thought to myself: ‘Here, I can go ahead’, but he quickly took me back!
Then I just waited to pick up the pace but started to lose grip and thought to myself: ‘Oh la la it’s gonna be a tough race’ while I was losing my rhythm. I did three very slow laps, in 1’26. I pushed again: 1’24, then I found myself without brakes. Quartararo, Valentino [Rossi] and Petrucci passed me …
Then the grip was good again and I was able to turn in 1’24”5 and I got back up well on Valentino and Fabio, but suddenly in the first corner the brakes exploded and it was impossible to do anything …
We saw last week that Fabio had feeling problems with the brakes; Did you have any fears, or did you feel something similar?
No, it’s something I’ve never seen in my MotoGP career. Maybe a little fall [du freinage] and having to play with the level, but there I felt it turn after turn: I just couldn’t do anything. I believe a part came off and my first intention was to get off the bike because I just couldn’t stop it!
It’s hard to imagine jumping off a motorcycle at this speed!
But what to do ? I wasn’t going to stay on it! I had to jump… I understood very well that the brakes had broken, so I decided to jump. We win and we lose together. Now we have to forget those two races in Austria: they were my two worst MotoGP races and we deserve much better. We are working very hard.
OK, I was behind Dovi, but my pace was good and I’m happy with the settings we used this weekend: they were good, even in the race, and that’s something positive. I was able to pass Dovi, which is not easy, and I kept pushing: this is the most important. We have to think in a positive way and now there are races where we are very fast, and where I am in particular. Last week I was in pole position. There, I was fast all weekend: we are 100% with what we have and we can not do more.
You were the only Yamaha rider with brake problems…
To be honest, I never had this problem, ever! But I didn’t want to stop: I wanted to give my maximum, even if it meant taking only one point, and staying on track. However, the clearest solution was to stop but I didn’t want to.
Do you think this problem is due to the nature of the track itself?
No, I do not think so.
Could Yamaha’s engine problems lead to reducing the engine brake to protect it when you downshift, and thus place more stress on the front brake, and explain this failure?
Well I hope I didn’t break that engine! The engine brake is the same. You have to compensate for the lack of top speed in a way so I brake very late compared to the others. In terms of riding style, we get 10 km / h here and there at different places on the track and the problem is that if you start first, you have a problem because we overtake you very easily and for you that becomes very difficult to overtake [de nouveau] : I tried in all ways and in all areas with Dovi and it was not possible …
What do these two weeks mean for your championship? Is it still possible to fight?
Brno: error! Austria? Mistake ! Austria [2] : mistake. Certainly as a team we want to be ahead but we have to forget about the championship: now we have to really improve the bike. We don’t know what will happen to Misano because it changes a lot from one race to another; you have to stay calm and positive because things can change quite quickly.
We should not lose our focus, but as you said, we lost three great opportunities and the possibility of being ahead in the championship, unlike Fabio, but that’s how it is: we make mistakes and that do we harvest …
–
