Viñales Suspended By Yamaha Over 'Irregular' Bike Operation

Calum Gill 11:22 12/08/2021

Yamaha's Maverick Viñales has been suspended, and had his entry for the Austrian Grand Prix removed, after his team this morning strongly hinted it believes he may have purposely damaged his Yamaha M1 during last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix.

According to a brief statement released by the team, Viñales was withdrawn from this weekend’s race in Austria due to “unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend”, and will not be replaced. “Yamaha‘s decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last days,” the team explained. “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.”

Viñales made a strong start to the Styrian GP, before falling backwards upon the red flag restart following a fiery crash between Dani Pedrosa & Lorenzo Savadori. Set to finish last for the second time in three races, Viñales pulled over with a lap to go. However, it seems from Yamaha’s statement that it now believes that Viñales deliberately sabotaged the bike - an almost unheard-of claim that if it can prove it will certainly spell the end of his time as a racer for the team.

He was already set to leave the team at the end of the 2021 season, halfway through a one-year deal, after a difficult start to the season led to him breaking his contract with the team. He is believed to be close to signing a deal to move to Aprilia for 2022, replacing Savadori in the Italian team.