Maverick Vinales has ended speculation about his MotoGP future after confirming he has re-signed with Yamaha for another two seasons.
The Spaniard made his Yamaha debut in 2017 – a year after his rookie campaign with Suzuki – and has firmly established himself as a front runner, winning six MotoGP races over the past three seasons.
Even so, the omnipresence of Valentino Rossi in the factory Yamaha team coupled with the rise of youngster Fabio Quartararo had raised some doubts over whether his seat was under threat from 2021 onwards.
However, ahead of the 2020 MotoGP pre-season test in Sepang, Vinales has become the first big player to confirm his place on next year’s grid with a new deal that will take him to the conclusion of 2022.
“I‘m extremely happy because I feel like I get to keep ’my own team‘,” he said. “This will be the second year with my current crew, and after this I have two more years to look forward to. I‘m so excited! I think that if we keep working really hard we are heading the right way.
“For me, it was very important to make this announcement before the season started, because I‘m highly motivated and want to be able to fully concentrate on the 2020 season. I don‘t want to spend too much time thinking about the future.
“There were no reasons not to stay with Yamaha, because they feel like family. Yamaha is giving me a lot of support and, as I said, I have ’my own team‘, which is something I really need. We need to keep working and be very strong. Our main objective is, as always, to be World Champion and try to bring Yamaha the number one honour again. I will try my best.
“For sure, I will give everything I have to make our team proud too. I would like to say ’Thank you‘ to Yamaha for their faith in me. They are giving me a lot of confidence, and I really have trust in our partnership. I think we will both be growing very fast and we will keep pushing.”
Maverick Vinales Yamaha deal kick starts 2021 silly season
Given the level of interest in the futures of Rossi and Quartararo, it became easy to forget Vinales was Yamaha's highest-scorer and sole race winner in 2019.
Indeed, to the Spaniard’s detriment he has often been judged on the rapid start – three wins from five races – he made with Yamaha in 2017 and the fact he hasn’t been able to replicate that form since.
Even so, Vinales has steadily worked his way back into the upper echelons of MotoGP’s top tier at a time when the Yamaha M1 still lacks in areas compared with Honda and Ducati. Indeed, it is worth noting he was the only rider to defeat Marc Marquez comprehensively in 2019 with his victories at Assen and Sepang.
This early deal is almost certainly a successful attempt by Yamaha to stop rivals (Ducati) trying to pinch its – based on recent results – number one rider.
It does, however, raise new questions about whether Rossi will indeed continue into 2021 or whether Quartararo will be content to stay at Petronas SRT for another contract cycle… these will no doubt set the tone for the media sessions come Sepang on February 7-9.
It wasn’t a deal many expected so early in the year – or, in some eyes, at all – but it’s definitely a bold opening salvo from Yamaha before MotoGP 2020 has even turned a wheel.
