As explained in the following press release, this decision was taken as a result of “unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle” by Viñales during the Styrian MotoGP race last Sunday.
Behind the scenes, the following is being reported by multiple sources. Viñales apparently felt that Yamaha had done something to his bike between the first start and the second (following the fiery crash involving Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo Savadori). Apparently, the bike did not work well after the restart, actually stalling and forcing Viñales to start from pit lane. The father of Viñales has openly criticized Yamaha over this situation.
It is also being reported that Viñales, on his way to a last place finish, was over-revving his Yamaha M1 down the front straight during each of the last 3 or 4 laps, leaving the bike in 5th and refusing to shift into 6th gear. A look at Viñales’ top speed down the straight on the last few laps is consistent with this. It appears that Yamaha concluded that Viñales was trying to damage the engine on his M1. Here is the press release from Yamaha:
Yamaha regrets to announce that Maverick Viñales‘ entry to this weekend‘s Austrian MotoGP event has been withdrawn by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team.
The absence follows the suspension of the rider by Yamaha due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend‘s Styria MotoGP race.
Yamaha‘s decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last days.
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.
The rider will not be replaced at the Austrian GP.
Decisions regarding the future races will be taken after a more detailed analysis of the situation and further discussions between Yamaha and the rider.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
