Vinales Exit Confirmed

That Yamaha, whilst it has moments of good. Doesn’t seem to be the consistent package

 

So what now for Dovi?

 

He cant overtake, so I guess the aprilia is ideally suited.

 

Agreed, however.. Is Fabio making the bike look better than it is then? because he's been pretty consistent

 

Very surprised that no one has mentioned Olivera for the Yamaha factory ride as he doesn't have a new contract with KTM and Binder has a 3 year contract

 

Definitely possible.

it’s always a difficult thing to gauge. If you look at Marquez over the recent years for example, he’s been in a class of his own on a bike renowned to be difficult to get on with. A bike that nobody else seems to be able to ride.

That says numerous things really. He is obviously a huge talent. But also his riding style works with that machine.

You can be the best rider out there, but if you can’t get the bike to work you’ll look average. At that level, the margins are ridiculously fine and every riders wants different from their machine in order to go fast.

 

I'm not sure Morbidelli will get the factory bike either, dunno, something doesn't feel right with what's going on with him being given the oldest bike etc.

 

His contract is until the end of 2022, he's winning races why would he be thinking of leaving?

 

It's all a bit of a shakeup all of a sudden, Dovi testing for Aprilia and even at the weekend the Aprilia boss hinted at him getting a ride next year (hopefully).

Now with Vinales leaving and being tipped to be beside Aleix where does that leave Dovi? Would Aprilia really want Vinales given his PR shortcomings and messed up head?

My view and this is by no means based on anything, stick Morbidelli on Vinales's bike, he deserves it... he's had an injury for most of the year, had ACL/MCL surgery last week to hopefully put that one to bed. THen hopefully we'll Morbidelli return to the form he had in 2020.

That leaves 2 seats at SRT, given that we know Rossi won't be there is 2022... There's no one else in MotoGP of note not within a contract, so that's them looking at Moto2 or WSBK maybe.

 

Given Aprilia’s form for how they treat people, it wouldn’t surprise me if they have a verbal agreement with Dovi that they just go back on for something ‘better’ although personally I am convinced Dovi is a far better rider than Maverick

 

I dont get the hate for him tbh hes got to do what he thinks is right for him, hes a former world champion after all.
No ones saying zarco was a tit for leaving ktm these days are they. You never know the whole story or what the future has in store.
Good luck to him.

 

I could see Maverick doing well on a Suzuki

 

Is Rins out of contract? He’s having a shocker this year

 

For me Franco Morbidelli deserves the ride over and above anybody else in the paddock.

 

I thought Morbidelli may join the VR46 team next year? They are pals after all!!

I'd like to see Mir on the Yam tbh.

 

I’m not sure dude

 

This, https://motomatters.com/page/the_2021_provisional_motogp_rider_line.html is a little out of date with Binder recently signing up for 4 years with KTM but it shows those riders whose contracts expire at the end of the season. Miller is a surprise for me but feel free to speculate away Andy

 

Miller/Ducati took the option for 2022 a few weeks ago so he's sorted for another year.

We'll never know what goes on behind closed doors, but lets be honest here every factory rider is earning a significant amount of money per year, from a few million Euro's to in Marquez's case 25 million per year, plus bonuses, sponsorship, endorsements.

The flipside to that is a team expects results, I guess ideally a team wants a number one and number two rider who are both capable of winning a championship, Rossi/Lorenzo, Rossi/Vinales, Marquez/Lorenzo to name three, if they can't get that the second rider has to be able to maximise points towards the team/manufacturer titles (more important than the riders championship lets not forget), think Pedrosa he was a number two for years, but bagged quite a few wins along the way.

Looking at Vinales in a little more detail since joining MotoGP, two seasons with Suzuki and five with Yamaha (both factory rides) in my opinion he hasn't really set the world on fire: -

9 wins
7 2nd places
12 3rd places

Then a lot of 4th places and below....

I do wonder if Austria last year and nearly being hit by a bike flying through the air and the recent birth of his daughter have really changed his focus, he doesn't need the money so maybe it's time to take stock and walk away, a bit like Casey did a few years ago