Maverick Vinales was cautious but positive at the end of Friday practice which saw some signs of progress for the Movistar Yamaha team. The Spaniard was competitive throughout, finishing fastest overall in the morning session and although he slipped to third in the afternoon, Vinales remained upbeat at the end of the day.
Silverstone has historically favoured the Yamaha YZR-M1 due to its fast, flowing nature, with Vinales himself also a former winner here, but the 23-year-old also pointed to progress made at the team’s recent test at Misano and was pleased to see the progress continue at Silverstone. He also suggested he had gone back to basics in his approach to today’s sessions.
“The strategy was to enjoy riding on the bike and try to get a good set-up with the electronics on this track”, he explained. “We weren’t sure if it would work as well as Misano, but it’s good. I could ride quite fast and precise, and the rhythm was not so bad. We still need to improve in some areas but I am happy.”
“At Misano we did a good improvement and I was able to be aggressive again and ride the bike my way. It’s the same here so I’m quite curious to see how the bike will react when the track is good.”
Vinales would expand on his earlier comments, explaining the areas that have changed on his YZR-M1 while also pointing out the improvements still required.
“The general feeling was much better. I could push the bike much more at the front and this gives me a lot of confidence. Every time I can push the front, I can do the lap time. It was very interesting to understand the way to ride the bike to be fast and consistent.”
“For me, we still need to improve our lines on the track. We’re not perfect on the track so we still need to improve these areas as it’s very important to be precise on every corner to be consistent on the lap times. For sure, we also still need to improve the acceleration, even if today was really good.”
