Smiling, close, transmitting positive energy, the Maverick Viñales that we met yesterday in Madrid hours before the premiere of MotoGP Unlimited, the new Amazon Prime Video docuseries, is a new person . Another Maverick Viñales compared to the taciturn, sharp and bad with life that in the middle of last season broke up with Yamaha with whom he had a multimillion-dollar contract. The reason? Well, there came a time when Maverick put his “feel good” before the many millions that would have increased his bank account.
Lin Jarvis, the head of Yamaha, was not very elegant this winter in his comments towards you.
Honestly, I think silence is the best answer. There is nothing to say. Very few people know what really happened in there. I do tell you that as a result of my situation at Yamaha I have seen a lot of evil. I met a lot of bad people, but also good people. An experience that has made me a little colder with people outside my life.
Let’s talk about the future. Obliged question two weeks before the start of the championship: How has the preseason gone?
It has gone much better than expected. It has been a good and positive season because the sensations that the new bike has left is that it works clearly better than last year’s. And that this has become evident after having done so few kilometers with her, gives encouragement.
With Yamaha you started the year forced to win, now in Aprilia nobody expects you to win the World Championship. Tremendous difference, right? How do you face this new status?
Do not think that there is much difference, because I am of the opinion that each one puts pressure on himself. It is the positive pressure, the one that prevents you from relaxing and the one that makes you want to go a little further each time.
But you can’t deny me that the pressure of the environment is different in a garage forced to win and another in which what is sought is to be competitive.
You’re right. At Aprilia we obviously also have goals to meet, but goals that take time. Everyone is aware of it.
I remember reading a phrase of yours in which you said that every day you woke up thinking that you wanted to be World Champion. Is this still valid?
And so much! And I’ll tell you more than before.
Do you understand then that you have an outstanding account?
No, that desire to be World Champion is what inspires me every day to try to be a better rider. It is a positive pressure that instead of subtracting, adds. The pressure that makes you squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
You are World Champion, and as such you know what it takes for a World Cup, an experience that is very important. Why haven’t you won the MotoGP title yet? What have you been missing?
I have clearly lacked consistency. Because perseverance helps you to evolve, but above all to give solidity to your sports career. That’s what I have to look for.
And to achieve it, what do you have to improve and what plan do you have to achieve it?
We are already working on the plan. The first step is to create a strong structure, and it is being achieved. In Aprilia, what they want is that when Thursday arrives at a circuit there is a pre-established plan and they do not go out of it, that everyone knows what awaits them and what they have to do over the weekend. And in my case, what I want this year is to get to the weekends thinking only of driving and nothing else. Then at home, my family; I do not want any thing else.
Last year life showed you its two faces: the cruelest and its best side. How has it affected you as a person?
Yes, as you say, life showed me its two faces. On the one hand my daughter was born and on the other I have lost a cousin. I lived the hardest part of life, but above all it has made me see that you have to enjoy the moment. And when I say the moment, I mean more the moment with people. I enjoyed my cousin a lot, I enjoyed every moment. Our relationship was very beautiful. And with that I stay.
With the birth of your daughter, in some way, life compensated for the pain of your cousin.
I can’t even imagine the pain that some members of my family may feel, I can’t even imagine it. There is no compensation possible. I keep him in mind every day, but I don’t try to think about it. Personally, my time with my daughter is very nice and I am enjoying it very much.
Let’s go back to the bikes. This will be your eighth season in MotoGP. When you arrived, motorcycles were basically two wheels and an engine. Now they incorporate more and more technology such as aerodynamics, all those systems for raising and lowering the height of the bike. How much have you had to recycle the pilots in these years?
It’s basically easier to drive. You raise the bike, throttle to the bottom and that’s it. I remember when I got to Suzuki, it was complicated! Full throttle gave it very little; now it is very easy. Before, the rear brake was used while accelerating so that the motorcycle did not rise, now everything is done by the electronics.
Each era has its characteristics and you have to adapt. Now, for example, it brakes later due to downforce; direction changes are slower, but the wheels have more contact with the ground. It is a paradox, there is more security, but that security makes it go faster and the circuits seem smaller and smaller.
If I win in Qatar in the first GP it would be my greatest feat ever… but you have to be realistic.”
The last one: last year you won in Qatar in the first GP of the year…
[Chuckles sarcastically] What, are you going to ask me if I’m going to win?
Well that…
It would be my greatest feat ever!… But you have to be realistic. There is work to be done, although this world of racing must be open to everything