MotoGP – Maverick Vinales ‘ignored’ advice from Brembo about brakes

Maverick Vinales dramatically crashed out of the Styrian GP after his brakes failed on him after, forcing him to abandon ship at 140mph after ignoring advice.

In the first Austrian round the Yamaha riders across the board struggled with braking issues, this meant that for race two, most Yamaha riders moved to the ‘evolution’ brake system for the front wheel, however, Vinales decided to remain on the same version used at race one which eventually exploded.

Maverick tried the new evolution system at the Styrian race weekend however did not like the feeling it gave him, he also did not suffer from the high temperatures which Quartararo did in the first race, therefore opted to use the original system. Quartararo had many troubles with his brakes in race 1 when he was forced to go dirt tracking in the gravel trap after running on, dropping to 20th place.

Brembo advised in an email to all MotoGP riders and teams that they must use the new evolution system and that Brembo would not be held accountable for issues caused by the original system.

Vinales commented, “From the fourth lap I noticed that I was running out of brakes, I was taking precautions not to take anyone out ahead and suddenly, at Turn 1, the brake exploded.

“I couldn’t do anything and that’s why I threw myself off. It’s something that had never happened to me.” Finished the ex-Moto3 champion who currently sits in fifth place in the standings.

Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli told the MotoGP website, “We chose to use the, let’s call it, standard brake system. Because Brembo brought an evolution and Valentino, Fabio and Franco used this system. Maverick didn’t, because Maverick never suffered the very high temperatures that the others suffered last weekend and also when he tried the new system, he didn’t have the feeling he was looking for.”