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Does Maverick Viñales now hate his Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP race bike so much that he tried to blow it up?
That seems to be the most likely conclusion from a surprising announcement by Yamaha today that Viñales, once Yamaha's most promising prospect, has been withdrawn from this weekend's Austrian GP, the second race in two weekends at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Viñales had another nightmare day last Sunday, as his motorcycle stalled on the grid for the restart after an early red flag and he eventually finished last among the riders still running at the end.
In a statement, Yamaha said it suspended Viñales "due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend’s Styria MotoGP race.
"Yamaha’s decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last few days.
"Yamaha’s conclusion is that the rider’s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race."
The relationship between Yamaha and Viñales, formerly in tatters, now appears blown to bits. Viñales had a two-year contract with the Monster Energy Yamaha factory team but instead decided to leave Yamaha at the end of this season. More recently, the Viñales Racing Team in World Supersport 300, run by Maverick's father, Ángel, announced it was splitting with Yamaha, too.
Maverick (noun): an unorthodox or independent-minded person.
This is not the first time Maverick has been a maverick. In 2012, when he was racing in Moto3, he abandoned his team during a race weekend in Malaysia and flew home to Europe. He patched up that situation and his career didn't suffer, as he continued up the ranks to Moto2 and MotoGP, but I have to wonder if he'll ever get a top factory ride again, after this incident.
The Yamaha team will field just one rider this weekend, championship leader Fabio Quartararo. A decision about the rest of the season "will be taken after a more detailed analysis of the situation and further discussions between Yamaha and the rider," the Yamaha statement said.
