After being suspended for hitting the rev limiter, Maverick Vinales has decided to part his ways with Yamaha through mutual agreement. Although, his replacement is yet to be announced.
It is reported that Maverick Vinales has ended his contract with Yamaha halfway after getting suspended for hitting the rev limiter at Styrian Grand Prix.
His contract for Aprilia 2022 has also been terminated with Yamaha this year.
It is now expected that Yamaha test rider, Cal Crutchlow, who was going to ride for Petronas SRT in the next round at Silverstone, is acquiring the British Grand Prix along with the Moto2 rider Jake Dixon taking up the place of Franco Morbidelli at the satellite team, who was injured in the incident.
The replacement for Vinales for the remaining season is yet to be announced.
This year, in June, Vinales announced the “mutual decision” taken to terminate the contract with Yamaha before the end of this season. However, the relationship came to its edge even sooner after the scorching Styrian Grand Prix. There, he was interrupted during the restart, acquired a long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits, and ended last twice in the three races.
The situation went from bad to worse when he got suspended by his team for “irregular operations” of his Yamaha M1. Then, a video went viral, where he was seen revving his bike to the limit of the pitlane.
Apart from the suspension from the British race, Vinales has also been terminated from the Austrian Grand Prix.
In his statement, Vinales stated that with the mutual decision to part ways early this season, it was also decided of completing this current season with maximum efforts from both sides. However, the race at Styrian Grand Prix did not turn out well as they hoped, and sadly it did not end on good terms as well.
Thus, after thoroughly considering the situation, both Vinales, and Yamaha concluded to end their partnership with immediate effects.
He said that he is deeply thankful to Yamaha for providing him a tremendous opportunity. He is also grateful for the support he got from them during the 4.5 years of his racing journey and is looking back with pride on the results both parties achieved together.
He further said that he will always be respectful towards Yamaha and wish them good luck in the future.
Lin Jarvis, the Yamaha motor racing team director, also has something to say about the termination. He said that the team had been expecting “maximum efforts” from Vinales till the end of the season and the closing of the contract seems to be best for both the team and the rider.
He further stated that both Yamaha and Maverick came under a mutual term to end the contract from the 2021-2022 programme till the end of 2021. Both the rider and the team committed to continuing to the end of the current season with the team supporting him wholly and he, on the other hand, providing them with the maximum efforts to finish the project ‘in style.’
Regretfully, the race didn’t go well and after a deep consideration from both parties, they end up with the conclusion that it is the best option to end the partnership earlier. This separation will provide a rider a choice to follow his selected future direction and will allow the team to focus more on the remaining races of the 2021 season with the replacement rider that is yet to be identified.
He expressed Yamaha’s sincere gratitude to Maverick. They continue to cherish the good memories and appreciate the efforts taken by both the parties in this 4.5 years of togetherness with 8 victories, 24 podiums, and 2 third places in the 2017 and 2019 overall riding standards.
He concluded his statement by wishing Marverick good luck in his future endeavors.