Maverick Vinales has confirmed he is splitting from his Yamaha Factory crew chief amid nother disappointing start to a MotoGP season that has left him playing catch up to new Yamaha team-mate andf 2021 series leader Fabio Quartararo.
The Spaniard began the year in impeccable fashion with a smartly-judged win in the Qatar 2021 MotoGP curtain raiser, but has struggled to demonstrate the same form ever since with a fifth place being his best result from the ensuing five events.
Now after a particularly lacklustre weekend in Mugello in the shadow of a faultless performance by team-mate Quartararo, Vinales has decided to make a significant change to his personal team set-up with Esteban Garcia departing his role as crew chief having only held the role since 2019,
In that time Vinales has achieved four wins and 11 podiums, though thery are weekends interspersed by others in which he has struggled to get in the mix come race day.
In his place comes Silvano Galbusera, who worked with Valentino Rossi up until 2020 - having taken over from Jerry Burgess - when he opted to turn his attentions to working with Yamaha’s European test rider programme. He was replaced by David Munoz in Rossi's team, who proceeded to depart to Petronas SRT with him.
"Esteban joined our team in 2019. He and Maverick had already worked together before in 2013 and won the Moto3 World Championship that year," Meregall said.
"We are very grateful to Esteban for his dedication and passion during our time spent together, which led to eleven podiums for Maverick, including four wins, three second places, and four third places.
"Saying ’Goodbye‘ to one of our crew members is always a sad occasion, but it was a mutual decision based on what‘s best for both parties. We wish Esteban all the best for the future."
