After a complex season, Maverick Viñales arrived in Qatar with a certain optimism. Although he had not physically recovered from his shoulder, Losail is a circuit where he has always been highly competitive. Unfortunately, what we saw in the GP was a continuation of what we have been observing all season and that is that Viñales has the same problems.
So much so that despite everything he had going for him and the various absences and incidents, Maverick was only able to achieve a fifteenth place on Saturday and a thirteenth place on Sunday, a far cry from the ability that the Spanish driver has shown throughout his career. The underlying problem is that Viñales himself confirmed that he has to undergo more tests because he cannot go faster than he is going.
Viñales is looking for a solution that does not arrive
He himself said after the race: “Next week I will do all the tests that exist and that are possible: CT, MRI, arthroscopy. All the possible ones to understand what I have. And if I have something broken, I stop. 100%. Because I can’t go faster than I’m going now.”
As is evident, the situation is not easy to manage for the only rider on the current grid who has been able to win races with three different brands (Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia) and who sees the situation as complicated as to affirm that if there is no solution to the problems he is having, he will have to end his career: “If there is something broken, I will stop, because there is no point in continuing. I can’t improve and I don’t like being behind. I hate every lap I do in this situation. So, if I find that there is nothing positive and that I can’t improve, I stop. I have no motivation to continue because, if I feel like that, there is no point in getting on a bike and riding at 50%. So we’ll see if there is something broken and whether I can fix it or not. Maybe I need surgery, or maybe I can gradually recover by staying at home and following an appropriate rehabilitation program. If this is not possible, it’s over for me, because it is really very complicated.”
So far Viñales has no place in MotoGP for next season and although there were rumors about the possibility of becoming a test rider for Ducati, this has not been confirmed. Of course, the positive thing in this complex situation is that at least it recognizes that the team is recognizing the effort it is making: “The team gives me a lot of love. They understand that I am injured and that I am doing everything possible not to stop. To not get off the bike and finish the weekend.”
