It is not the first time the sometimes brooding figure from Figueres, home of Salvador Dali, has shown surreal behaviour. Back in 2012, with three rounds remaining and (after five wins) second in the new Moto3 championship, he had a mathematical though admittedly remote chance of winning. He arrived in Malaysia for the GP only to turn straight round and fly home again. He had already planned to quit his Honda team at the end of the year, now a meltdown meant he walked out early.
Strong-arm tactics persuaded him back for the final two races, and the next year, now riding a KTM, he took the championship before moving on up the ladder. He rebuilt his reputation as a special rider after spearheading Suzuki’s MotoGP return in 2015 and taking their first win in 2016, then joining Yamaha in 2017. Alongside Rossi, however, he shared increasing difficulties for the marque. His results became more and more erratic. To be fair, so too were those of bright new star Quartararo, in the satellite team for the past two years, and whose early 2020 title challenge went south with a series of bad races. Vinales beat him on points both years. Which clearly made the situation this year hard to bear. By the eighth round Quartararo’s four wins and two more podiums had handsomely outstripped him.
The low point came in Germany; a week later at Assen Vinales spoke bitterly of how the team, instead of building a bike to suit his style, were instead trying to redesign his style to suit Quartararo’s bike. A statement that left technical staff flabbergasted.
Still only 26, Vinales’s toys-out-the-pram moment might play in his favour. Aprilia’s all-new bike is significantly better than its previous, and he might be the rider to make it fully competitive.
Should he take the ride there, it will be at the expense of veteran former Ducati star Andrea Dovizioso, currently acting to good effect as Aprilia development rider, after taking a year’s sabbatical from the hurly-burly. His hoped-for 2021 return is now in jeopardy.