By now the rumors had been running around for some time, between denials and vague answers, but today the official announcement has arrived: Maverick Vinales will leave Yamaha at the end of 2021, thus terminating the contract that bound him to the Iwata manufacturer until the end of 2022. The Spaniard, who took eight wins, 24 podiums and 13 pole positions on the M1, made the announcement by mutual agreement with Yamaha the day after the Dutch Grand Prix, in which he was the author of a race that redeemed from the dark and stingy period of results.
It was in Assen that the ‘bomb exploded’. On Saturday, in fact, the rumors that the rider were out of Yamaha at the end of this year had become increasingly insistent, with Vinales headed for Noale. Yes, because the market is still very open and Aprilia has not yet confirmed the second rider who will share the garage with Aleix Espargaro. Massimo Rivola, Aprilia director, denied it, as did Vinales himself at the end of the Dutch GP. However, the hypothesis that he will be able to ride the RS-GP from 2022 remains very concrete.
With Maverick Vinales out, Yamaha will have to find a replacement to fill the void left by the Spaniard. At the moment the most plausible hypothesis is to choose Franco Morbidelli. The Roman driver, who at this moment has the only M1 that has not been updated, could thus make the leap from the Petronas team to the official one. A clause of the contract with Yamaha’s satellite team provides for the dissolution in the event that an offer arrives that allows the rider to have a factory bike.
The future of Maverick Vinales is not yet known, commenting on the early departure from Yamaha: “This collaboration has been very important for me in the last five years and the decision to separate has been a difficult one. In these seasons together, we have achieved great results and had difficult times. Either way, there remains a feeling of mutual respect and appreciation. I am fully committed and determined to achieve good results for the rest of this season ”.
Lin Jarvis, Yamaha Managing Director, expresses his regret for Vinales’ farewell: “It is with sadness that we greet Maverick at the end of the year. We are in the middle of our fifth season together and over the years we have had many good times, but also difficult times. After the German GP, which was the most difficult weekend of our collaboration, we had an important conversation in Assen and we came to the conclusion that parting was in the common interest of both sides. Yamaha will do its utmost, as it has always done, to give full support to Maverick and finish the season in the best possible way ”.
The German GP was the worst of the Spaniard’s career since he has been in MotoGP. Penultimate in qualifying and last in the race were the results that made Vinales hit rock bottom, even going so far as to define what was happening in his garage as ‘disrespect’. Heavy words those of the pilot, who immediately let us think of an imminent farewell. The result of the Sachsenring also came on the sidelines of the weekend in Barcelona, in which Yamaha had imposed a new crew chief on the rider. Outside Garcia, inside Galbusera, for a revolution in box # 12 that should have raised the situation.
The inconstancy of Vinales, winner of the first race of the season and then plunged into the abyss, led to many questions and here the announcement of the divorce comes right at the end of the race in which he raised his head. At the end of the Dutch GP, in which he redeemed himself with a pole position and a second position, the Spaniard and Yamaha said goodbye.
