Vinales salvages distant top six on dismal weekend for Yamaha

Maverick Vinales collected solid points for sixth position in the Italian MotoGP but took little joy from a weekend that saw the Monster Yamaha team comprehensively out-performed by its key rivals from start-to-finish.

Though the manufacturer firmly expected to be more of a factor in the race despite an anonymous showing in qualifying, Vinales never looked competitive as he slipped from seventh to 12th initially.

Benefitting from a fairly high attrition rate and a stronger package on worn tyres in the closing stages as he picked off fading satellite rivals, though Vinales eventually hauled himself up to sixth position, he was alarmed at how much he is struggling for feeling on the Yamaha M1.

"I struggled a lot,” he lamented. “I had no feeling with the bike during the race and the tyres were very slippery. I tried to push in the correct way and manage the tyres in the best way I could, but anyway it wasn't enough. I don't think we should be on the level of getting sixth places, we need to push more.

“I really don't know what to expect for Montmeló. For sure, during the practices we can be there, but in the race it's a different story. Our bike suffers a lot when we don't have grip. So, we need to keep working to see if we can improve the feeling and take steps forward."

A tough weekend all round for Yamaha with Valentino Rossi’s DNF at his home race compounding the woes, even the Petronas Yamaha SRT team – having shone on Saturday – struggled on Sunday, with Fabio Quartararo dropping from second to tenth.