Viñales ‘furious’ after jumping off the bike at 227 km / h

16:52 – Yamaha driver Maverick Viñales felt more anger than fear when he had to jump off his Yamaha M1 at 227 kilometers per hour on Sunday afternoon when the brakes stopped working at the first corner.

Viñales started the race from fifth place, but soon realized that something was wrong with his machine. The driver had to slow down in order not to endanger himself and others and fell far back until things really went wrong and he had to jump off his bike on the seventeenth lap. The brakes were the part that Yamaha had to rely on on the Red Bull Ring, as the brand could not keep up with the other manufacturers in terms of top speed. However, the braking problem was not new to Yamaha, last weekend Fabio Quartararo suffered from it during the race and the problem turned out to be not resolved this weekend.

After the jump off his motorcycle, Viñales, who was wonderfully unharmed, spoke to the press via a digital video connection: “From the fourth lap I already felt that the brakes were getting less. I resolved not to let anyone close to me. so I couldn’t take anyone. Suddenly I felt the brakes explode at the first corner. There was nothing I could do and I decided to jump. It’s something that has never happened before, “said a disappointed Viñales. “Until then I had to adjust my lever every time I went through the corner. I think the brake pads were out. These last races were the worst in my career.”

Last weekend, Viñales finished in fourteenth place when he faced a slipping clutch after the restart. “I didn’t feel any fear, I just felt a lot of anger,” he continued. “The circuits are safe enough that in a situation like this you have time and space to make a decision. But we made three mistakes. We’d better forget about the title fight. Everything can change very quickly, but we have three good chances. because Fabio also had problems in the last races. “

Viñales is now in fifth place in the world championship. His gap on brand mate Quartararo, who also did not drive a flawless race, is now 22 points.