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Yamaha MotoGP team bosses have issued an unprecedented apology to their riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales. The riders lined up and 14th and 11th respectively suffering a terrible qualifying day at the Spielberg circuit, Austria.
Maio Meregalli, Team Manager, said, “Today was a very complicated day to get it right, due to the big contrast between the morning and the afternoon sessions. FP3 was wet, so it became clear early on that Vale would have to join Q1, while Maverick would promote to Q2. The change in conditions in the afternoon meant we had to try all our dry-setting options in FP4. The dry qualifying didn't go as we expected. The riders couldn't push the way they wanted to, so the team will work hard to find a solution to the problems. The start of the race will be crucial, both riders will need a good launch from the fourth and fifth row to hit the front of the field early on. We will use the warm-up session to fine-tune the bikes for the race, regardless of the weather conditions, though we hope for either a fully dry or fully wet day. It's been a very dark weekend for us so far and we acknowledge our responsibility for not being able to provide the riders with a package that enables them to fight at the top, where they both deserve to be, but we will continue to fight as a team, so together we can overcome the struggles and the technical issues that have held us back so far.”
Kouji Tsuya, project leader, said that the continued poor performance of the bike is down in part to Yamaha. This is something that would have been pleasing to hear for Rossi who has been consistently asking Yamaha for help in fixing the slow-accelerating M1.
A Yamaha media representative stated: “We apologise on behalf of Yamaha for the poor performances of our M1 with both Maverick and Valentino This is definitely one of the worst qualifying in some time, and we hope that it is the very bottom of our crisis and that now we can get out of this crisis soon.”
Even after the poor qualifying session, Valentino Rossi finished the race on Sunday at a very respectable 6th position after starting from 14th on the grid. Maverick Viñales however, finished at 12th after starting from 11th on the grid.
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Maio Meregalli, Team Manager, said, “Today was a very complicated day to get it right, due to the big contrast between the morning and the afternoon sessions. FP3 was wet, so it became clear early on that Vale would have to join Q1, while Maverick would promote to Q2. The change in conditions in the afternoon meant we had to try all our dry-setting options in FP4. The dry qualifying didn't go as we expected. The riders couldn't push the way they wanted to, so the team will work hard to find a solution to the problems. The start of the race will be crucial, both riders will need a good launch from the fourth and fifth row to hit the front of the field early on. We will use the warm-up session to fine-tune the bikes for the race, regardless of the weather conditions, though we hope for either a fully dry or fully wet day. It's been a very dark weekend for us so far and we acknowledge our responsibility for not being able to provide the riders with a package that enables them to fight at the top, where they both deserve to be, but we will continue to fight as a team, so together we can overcome the struggles and the technical issues that have held us back so far.”
Kouji Tsuya, project leader, said that the continued poor performance of the bike is down in part to Yamaha. This is something that would have been pleasing to hear for Rossi who has been consistently asking Yamaha for help in fixing the slow-accelerating M1.
A Yamaha media representative stated: “We apologise on behalf of Yamaha for the poor performances of our M1 with both Maverick and Valentino This is definitely one of the worst qualifying in some time, and we hope that it is the very bottom of our crisis and that now we can get out of this crisis soon.”
Even after the poor qualifying session, Valentino Rossi finished the race on Sunday at a very respectable 6th position after starting from 14th on the grid. Maverick Viñales however, finished at 12th after starting from 11th on the grid.
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