202 replies to this topic

[Alburaq]

There is even a Formula One driver called Firstname Lastname !

[Peat]

trackside photographers say he was on the limiter down the straights on the last lap, yet was 20kph slower than normal through the speed traps. 
 

That suggests he was in a lower gear on purpose. 

'It wasn't that bad'. - Tell that to the 100's of staff who painstakingly build those engines. Utter disrespect. 
'They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of him' - Good for them. He seems utterly toxic. 

[thegamer23]

milestone 11, on 13 Aug 2021 - 08:35, said:

I agree. Didn't seem remotely like a genuine attempt to blow the engine. No more of a buzz than missing a gear.

 

I disagree milestone!

 

It was clearly on purpose as he repeated the manouver multiple times during the last laps of the race, doing the straights in 4th or 5th gear (i'm not saying it, lot of reliable journalist are).

Heck, in that video alone he does it 3 times in the space of like 20 seconds.

 

I can get Vinales frustration, but i can also understand Yamaha's position. 
They make an effort to build the best engine of the grid, and the guy just tries to blow it up in a temper tantrum rampage.

[Requiem84]

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 08:51, said:

trackside photographers say he was on the limiter down the straights on the last lap, yet was 20kph slower than normal through the speed traps. 
 

That suggests he was in a lower gear on purpose. 

'It wasn't that bad'. - Tell that to the 100's of staff who painstakingly build those engines. Utter disrespect. 
'They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of him' - Good for them. He seems utterly toxic. 

 

You can see the video clip of the last lap. 

 

Look for yourself and don't base yourself on some random photographers. That's just plain stupid. 

[Peat]

The clip available is only of the last 3 corners of his last lap. The photographer in question is saying he came past start/finish doing it.

 

But i'm sure you know better than Yamaha, who have all the data. 

[JeePee]

Even if he did it only once... the motive is very strange!

[JeePee]

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 09:17, said:

The clip available is only of the last 3 corners of his last lap. The photographer in question is saying he came past start/finish doing it.

 

But i'm sure you know better than Yamaha, who have all the data. 

Last two laps on the official MotoGP channel: 

[Rediscoveryx]

It's strange yes, but I was also expecting to see something worse than this. Granted that this doesn't show his full lap, but then again; that material should be available to show right? Why not give the whole picture instead of just a short clip?

 

Edit: I see now that they have in fact published the final two laps.

 

Edit 2: Ok, I've now seen the two final laps, and to me it does seem as if he's trying to over-rev the engine on at least three separate occasions, while not exactly pushing throughout the rest of the lap. 

 

I suspect that the main reason that Yamaha is pissed probably is that they feel that what Viñales was trying to do was induce an engine failure that would make Yamaha look bad while excusing his own poor race performance. I think financial/other concerns are probably of lower importance.

Edited by Rediscoveryx, 13 August 2021 - 09:28.

[milestone 11]

thegamer23, on 13 Aug 2021 - 09:02, said:

I disagree milestone!

It was clearly on purpose as he repeated the manouver multiple times during the last laps of the race, doing the straights in 4th or 5th gear (i'm not saying it, lot of reliable journalist are).
Heck, in that video alone he does it 3 times in the space of like 20 seconds.

I can get Vinales frustration, but i can also understand Yamaha's position.
They make an effort to build the best engine of the grid, and the guy just tries to blow it up in a temper tantrum rampage.

I agree that his action was intended. From the evidence in the video alone, it's really no great shakes. That's not to say that at times throughout the lap things could have been worse, I've not seen evidence of that though.
Edit.
Just watched the latest video of the last two laps. Agree, the evidence is more damning however, I still don't believe it was a valid attempt at blowing the engine. If it was, it was an exceptionally poor one. I could have made a better job of it than that. He needs to take lessons from Tom Sykes. Just sheer frustration would be a better description. That though, does not condone his actions which were more than a little misguided.

Edited by milestone 11, 13 August 2021 - 09:44.

[Peat]

Ok, having watched that - I see that it's slightly different than the description I heard. 

On the penultimate lap, instead of him pinging of the limiter in 5th, as i was led to believe, he was pinging it in 2 lower gears then half throttling down the rest of the straight - hence the lower trap speed. 
On the last lap, he pings it twice between T2 and T3, then coming out of the double left, he slows right down and absolutely razzes it, then twice again in the pitlane. 

I think Yamaha are justified. If he shows his employer & colleagues that level of (dis)respect, then he needn't be there.  

If you think this kind of tantrum is fine, then i feel sorry for the people around you in your life. (speaking as someone who takes out my impatient rage on gardening equipment from time to time - the difference is, it's my stuff i'm damaging...)

[d246]

jjcale, on 12 Aug 2021 - 16:03, said:

Last one .... I know a guy called Dr D'eath. ... and he loves his name. And yes, he is a medical Dr.

 

My Dad dealt with a guy called Dr D'eath many years ago. Also an unfortunate bloke called Randy Raper....

[ExFlagMan]

Most telling thing for me about the full video is the fact that on several occasions he glanced over his shoulder on the exit of corners, presumably to make sure there was no-one close behind him that he would impede, as that might put him in line for a penalty, before playing 'silly bu**ers' with the throttle and gears down the straights.

 

I assume that the reports of the mechanics changing the clutch in the pits was as a results of seeing that the tell-tale showed higher that expected revs, which could be a result of the clutch slipping.

 

As for the comments about not believing the reports of 'random photographers', I guess it depends on who the photographers were - I would suggest that if they were FIM authorised press guys then it would seem to me that those who spend their time regularly track side might have a better understanding of the situation than those 'keyboards warriors' who have probably never been closer to a race track that their TV/media device.

Edited by ExFlagMan, 13 August 2021 - 10:19.

[blackhand2010]

Thing is, for all this talk of a temper tantrum, when he gets off the bike in the pits, his body language doesn't indicate anger, which makes it even worse; an act of pure spite.

[prty]

To be honest I always thought Viñales is a bit of an idiot, but he told the team not to touch the engine, and then they changed the clutch and the engineers connected their computers to change settings, and then his motorbike stopped. That alone is strange. And from the video the overrevving doesn't seem anything super bad. Seems there is indeed a bit of a component of Yamaha wanting to end the relationship before this happened.

 

 

 

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 08:51, said:

'It wasn't that bad'. - Tell that to the 100's of staff who painstakingly build those engines. Utter disrespect.

 

This is a bit demagogic, it's not as if the design blueprints that the people who designed the engine created disappeared by revving it, or as if the people who assembly the engine wouldn't be happy to continue doing their work.

Edited by prty, 13 August 2021 - 10:26.

[BRG]

d246, on 13 Aug 2021 - 09:34, said:

My Dad dealt with a guy called Dr D'eath many years ago. Also an unfortunate bloke called Randy Raper....

Who mentioned nominative determinism?  

 

This is a strange business.  Vinales came in MotoGP as the next big thing, burnt bright for a while then became nearly invisible.  He is already yesterday's man, so a nice opening for someone new from Moto2?

[Peat]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 10:22, said:

 

This is a bit demagogic, it's not as if the design blueprints that the people who designed the engine created disappeared by revving it, or as if the people who assembly the engine wouldn't be happy to continue doing their work.

 

Context is key. If he was continually clipping the limiter by mistake while chasing down the leader in the last 2 laps, then yeah, sod the engine. We'll just build another!

But he was last and d!cking around. When you only have 7 engines per season, you could really do without your star rider trying to grenade one because he was "frustrated"....

[PayasYouRace]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 10:22, said:

This is a bit demagogic, it's not as if the design blueprints that the people who designed the engine created disappeared by revving it, or as if the people who assembly the engine wouldn't be happy to continue doing their work.

Clearly you’ve never worked in an engineering maintenance and operations environment. Any damage costs time, manpower and money. It’s hard enough work when the operator brings something back damaged or otherwise unserviceable. The engineers and maintainers would not be happy it it turned out the damage they now have to fix was done on purpose. It’s enough work keeping something like a racing engine running well without having to inspect it for damage because the rider decided to abuse it.

[Dolph]

Requiem84, on 13 Aug 2021 - 08:25, said:

What is SO SO bad guys?

Only in the last lap he seems to shortly over rev a few times. The second to last lap I didn't really notice much?

Trying to destroy your equipment, sabotaging your team. What more worse can a rider do against their team other than deliberately take out your teammate?

[d246]

BRG, on 13 Aug 2021 - 10:32, said:

Who mentioned nominative determinism?  

 

This is a strange business.  Vinales came in MotoGP as the next big thing, burnt bright for a while then became nearly invisible.  He is already yesterday's man, so a nice opening for someone new from Moto2?

Might have been Scott Speed.

[Dutchrudder]

To finally replace Iannone?

[NoForumForOldPole]

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 09:32, said:

Ok, having watched that - I see that it's slightly different than the description I heard. 

On the penultimate lap, instead of him pinging of the limiter in 5th, as i was led to believe, he was pinging it in 2 lower gears then half throttling down the rest of the straight - hence the lower trap speed. 
On the last lap, he pings it twice between T2 and T3, then coming out of the double left, he slows right down and absolutely razzes it, then twice again in the pitlane. 

I think Yamaha are justified. If he shows his employer & colleagues that level of (dis)respect, then he needn't be there.  

If you think this kind of tantrum is fine, then i feel sorry for the people around you in your life. (speaking as someone who takes out my impatient rage on gardening equipment from time to time - the difference is, it's my stuff i'm damaging...)

 

The pitlane one is the most evident as, correct me if I am wrong, pit limiter limits revs on whatever gear it is set to (I had pit limiter on my road bike once - because race bike ), so he had to deliberate pull the clutch or put on N and rev it as he would not be able to rev to the moon otherwise. This would let everybody know in the pits that he is to no good - utter stupid or he wanted everybody know to about his tantrum.

 

Anyway I know better way of blowing the engine, dropping the gear at the wrong rpm...

Edited by NoForumForOldPole, 13 August 2021 - 11:32.

[NoForumForOldPole]

Dolph, on 13 Aug 2021 - 11:13, said:

Trying to destroy your equipment, sabotaging your team. What more worse can a rider do against their team other than deliberately take out your teammate?

 

Tweet confidential data like telemetry for everybody to see  

Edited by NoForumForOldPole, 13 August 2021 - 11:34.

[cpbell]

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 08:51, said:

trackside photographers say he was on the limiter down the straights on the last lap, yet was 20kph slower than normal through the speed traps. 
 

That suggests he was in a lower gear on purpose. 

'It wasn't that bad'. - Tell that to the 100's of staff who painstakingly build those engines. Utter disrespect. 
'They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of him' - Good for them. He seems utterly toxic. 

Some these days seem to think that, provided what you do is legal, you should be able to act like a complete d*******d and not be criticised for it.

[milestone 11]

This is a genuine attempt at blowing an engine, Tom got a bollocking.

 

Edited by milestone 11, 13 August 2021 - 14:15.

[prty]

PayasYouRace, on 13 Aug 2021 - 10:44, said:

Clearly you’ve never worked in an engineering maintenance and operations environment. Any damage costs time, manpower and money. It’s hard enough work when the operator brings something back damaged or otherwise unserviceable. The engineers and maintainers would not be happy it it turned out the damage they now have to fix was done on purpose. It’s enough work keeping something like a racing engine running well without having to inspect it for damage because the rider decided to abuse it.

 

Not sure I understand your logic, you say the maintainers would not be happy to check / fix damage, but isn't that their day to day job? It's like if you say that in a workshop they get angry every time a client comes to repair a car if he/she did the damage on purpose. It would be different if they have to pull an all nighter to fix it between qualifying and race, but this isn't the case. If they aren't working on Viñales engine, they would be working on a different one. Or are you saying they would have a peak of unpaid work?

 

If you say they would be unhappy because a damaged engine means worse sportive results and therefore less bonus, I would agree. But on the other hand, it might have been the clutch change the reason for worse sportive results.

[Peat]

Keep going, you'll be telling us that you litter so that litter pickers have something to pick up. 

[Risil]

Yeah. If your engine blew because of poor design or because it's being ridden the wrong way, then at least there's the possibility of learning something about design or how the bike should be operated. In this case though, it seems like Viñales acted out of malice. I think the mechanics have the right to be furious.

[manmower]

ExFlagMan, on 13 Aug 2021 - 09:55, said:

I assume that the reports of the mechanics changing the clutch in the pits was as a results of seeing that the tell-tale showed higher that expected revs, which could be a result of the clutch slipping.

 

I may be the one confused here, but I thought the supposed clutch swap had taken place, against Viñales wishes, during the red flag and thus before his problems at the restart and subsequent "unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle". Looked at in isolation, that seems poor from Yamaha if true. And something they might not have done to a rider they were on better terms with.

 

Then there's another version, "that during the weekend, Viñales noticed that the engine on one of his M1s was not working properly and reported this to technicians, who nevertheless decided not to replace it". If this one turns out to be true (i.e., both the not working properly and refusal to replace part), Yamaha's dramatic wording about serious risks and possible danger is more than a bit hypocritical.

 

Not to excuse petulant behavior, but since Maverick is the one operating the thing at 300+ km/h running risks that really dwarf the cost of an engine, I'd look down pretty sternly on doing anything that messes with his confidence.

 

We won't know for at least a while, but to me it looks like an ugly divorce from both sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PayasYouRace]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 11:50, said:

Not sure I understand your logic, you say the maintainers would not be happy to check / fix damage, but isn't that their day to day job? It's like if you say that in a workshop they get angry every time a client comes to repair a car if he/she did the damage on purpose. It would be different if they have to pull an all nighter to fix it between qualifying and race, but this isn't the case. If they aren't working on Viñales engine, they would be working on a different one. Or are you saying they would have a peak of unpaid work?

If you say they would be unhappy because a damaged engine means worse sportive results and therefore less bonus, I would agree. But on the other hand, it might have been the clutch change the reason for worse sportive results.

OK story time.

In my earlier career I was a maintainer for a helicopter operator. It was my “day job” as you put it to ensure the aircraft’s serviceability to meet the flying programme. On an ordinary day’s flying, we started at 8am, expecting two flights that day, finishing at 4pm-ish. A normal working day. Unfortunately on the second flight the pilot over-torqued the main rotor. It wasn’t deliberate, and fortunately he didn’t damage anything. But we only knew the latter after a series of engineering checks that took us to 3am. Needless to say the pilot was not popular among the engineers that day.

Now that was an extreme example of pulling an all nighter. But if we hadn’t needed that the work would have still spilled over into the following days, taking up. Same for Yamaha. Their engine guys would have to take that extra time to inspect and repair that engine now. That’s time and resources that could be better spent on other things.

This is not like some commercial garage who repair client’s damaged vehicles. They don’t care what happens once you drive away when they’re done.

He’s showing a deep disrespect to the guys on his own team who work hard to keep his machine running in top condition. Your local garage is there to make money off you by fixing your problems. These guys are there to win Grands Prix and have put their passion into their hard work as well.

[prty]

Peat, on 13 Aug 2021 - 11:55, said:

Keep going, you'll be telling us that you litter so that litter pickers have something to pick up. 

 

Uh, no, that's not my point at all. Please don't put words in my mouth.

[PayasYouRace]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:12, said:

Uh, no, that's not my point at all. Please don't put words in my mouth.

It’s exactly what your words are saying. I nearly used the street sweeper comparison too.

[Requiem84]

I see a lot of comments by people who probably never rode a motorcycle themselves.

 

It is pretty sad to see Vinales doing this on purpose and I think it's legitimate for Yamaha to put him on the bench for a weekend. 

 

With just a little experience of riding a motorcycle or a few trackdays, it's pretty clear however that this is nowhere near as bad as Yamaha and quite a few here try to make us believe. It was a lot more about Vinales being utterly frustrated and him showing that frustration than Vinales trying to blow up an engine. Like someone else said, if this was an attempt to sabotage his machine, he's the worst sabotagist I know. 

[Dhillon]

Yamaha must have telemetry data too, It can't just be video evidence or journalists.

 

We also don't know what happened when he was confronted. Was he apologetic or gave the finger sign 

Edited by Dhillon, 13 August 2021 - 12:17.

[Youichi]

manmower, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:09, said:

I may be the one confused here, but I thought the supposed clutch swap had taken place, against Viñales wishes, during the red flag and thus before his problems at the restart and subsequent "unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle". Looked at in isolation, that seems poor from Yamaha if true. And something they might not have done to a rider they were on better terms with.

 

Every team changed the clutch during the Red Flag, it's standard procedure.

The clutch gets 70% of its wear during a standing start, so they always change them.

[prty]

PayasYouRace, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:11, said:

OK story time.

In my earlier career I was a maintainer for a helicopter operator. It was my “day job” as you put it to ensure the aircraft’s serviceability to meet the flying programme. On an ordinary day’s flying, we started at 8am, expecting two flights that day, finishing at 4pm-ish. A normal working day. Unfortunately on the second flight the pilot over-torqued the main rotor. It wasn’t deliberate, and fortunately he didn’t damage anything. But we only knew the latter after a series of engineering checks that took us to 3am. Needless to say the pilot was not popular among the engineers that day.

Now that was an extreme example of pulling an all nighter. But if we hadn’t needed that the work would have still spilled over into the following days, taking up. Same for Yamaha. Their engine guys would have to take that extra time to inspect and repair that engine now. That’s time and resources that could be better spent on other things.

This is not like some commercial garage who repair client’s damaged vehicles. They don’t care what happens once you drive away when they’re done.

He’s showing a deep disrespect to the guys on his own team who work hard to keep his machine running in top condition. Your local garage is there to make money off you by fixing your problems. These guys are there to win Grands Prix and have put their passion into their hard work as well.

 

But you are giving an example of something that it didn't happen: time sensitive repairs, or a significant peak of work. As I said, had that happened, I would agree.

And I agree with what you said: the main issue would be extra costs and resources, that should be spend somewhere else. But that's exactly my point, the main victims are therefore not the maintainers or engineers, but the budget planners, managers, and disrespect the overall team. However, Peat tried to say the maintainers and engineers are the main victims, which is, and I stand by what I said, quite demagogic.

[prty]

PayasYouRace, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:13, said:

It’s exactly what your words are saying. I nearly used the street sweeper comparison too.

 

Nope it is not, as I just explained. Seems some have a tendency that, as soon as they hear something that remotely resembles to a "group of ideas", then automatically associate everything someone says to those preconceived ideas.

[PayasYouRace]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:21, said:

But you are giving an example of something that it didn't happen: time sensitive repairs, or a significant peak of work. As I said, had that happened, I would agree.
And I agree with what you said: the main issue would be extra costs and resources, that should be spend somewhere else. But that's exactly my point, the main victims are therefore not the maintainers or engineers, but the budget planners, managers, and disrespect the overall team. However, Peat tried to say the maintainers and engineers are the main victims, which is, and I stand by what I said, quite demagogic.

You clearly don’t understand the environment. I don’t need to explain it a third time.

[prty]

PayasYouRace, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:24, said:

You clearly don’t understand the environment. I don’t need to explain it a third time.

 

Well, not sure about that. You gave non-relevant examples, with time pressure and an all nighter involved. The demagogy is in trying to say that mechanics and engineers would have now deteriorated working conditions, which again, is not the case due to it not being time sensitive. And you are otherwise saying the same thing I am saying, that the main problem would be instead resource planning and respect to the team in general.

[SophieB]

prty, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:24, said:

Nope it is not, as I just explained. Seems some have a tendency that, as soon as they hear something that remotely resembles to a "group of ideas", then automatically associate everything someone says to those preconceived ideas.

I just don’t think you’re conveying your ideas to us as clearly as they seem to you, it happens to us all at times.

[Risil]

I suppose the aspect we're missing is that mechanics and engineers have a pride and joy in their work, it's not just "my 8-16 hours on the job are my employer's time; I get paid anyway so I don't care how they dispose of it". If I spend my day clearing up the mess caused by a team member making a destructive political statement to the management, chances are I wouldn't feel good about my job afterwards.

[prty]

Risil, on 13 Aug 2021 - 13:11, said:

I suppose the aspect we're missing is that mechanics and engineers have a pride and joy in their work, it's not just "my 8-16 hours on the job are my employer's time; I get paid anyway so I don't care how they dispose of it". If I spend my day clearing up the mess caused by a team member making a destructive political statement to the management, chances are I wouldn't feel good about my job afterwards.

 

That's true, but in that case the same would apply to Viñales, if the clutch and engine settings change wasted the work he does risking his life, unlike mechanics and engineers.

And again, I don't even like the guy   but I feel this is being exaggerated, and it is also strange that somebody does that if there's not a story behind.

[Risil]

No disagreement that the same applies to Vinales -- but was intentionally damaging his engine a reasonable, let alone a constructive, action? Everyone knows by now that Maverick's form is unusually tied to his emotional state, and it sucks to know that you're essentially being let go by the team you've been with for half a decade. But I guess his priority really should be to try and salvage what he can from what's clearly a very competitive bike, and soak up whatever he can to take to Aprilia.

 

I do sympathize with Maverick and have always had more than a bit of admiration for him, but he's the author of his own fate here.

[Dolph]

Prty, come on, man

[cpbell]

SophieB, on 13 Aug 2021 - 12:43, said:

I just don’t think you’re conveying your ideas to us as clearly as they seem to you, it happens to us all at times.

Agreed.  I thought I understood the point, but I apparently didn't.

[Dhillon]

There is also a limit of 7 engines per season, a disgruntled rider can run through them in two weekends.

[prty]

Risil, on 13 Aug 2021 - 13:30, said:

No disagreement that the same applies to Vinales -- but was intentionally damaging his engine a reasonable, let alone a constructive, action? Everyone knows by now that Maverick's form is unusually tied to his emotional state, and it sucks to know that you're essentially being let go by the team you've been with for half a decade. But I guess his priority really should be to try and salvage what he can from what's clearly a very competitive bike, and soak up whatever he can to take to Aprilia.

 

I do sympathize with Maverick and have always had more than a bit of admiration for him, but he's the author of his own fate here.

 

Sure, but the thing is, looking at the onboard, I don't think that alone justifies the suspension. There must be a further story going on between Yamaha and him. After seeing Viñales past behavior, it is likely that whatever was going on in the background is in a high degree his fault, but still, this background story is what I'm curious about. Or saying it in a different way, if the relationship was 100% clean before that, there's no way they would suspend him for that.

It's like if a F1 driver throws away the steering wheel to the ground after a mechanical failure (quite usual), and the team says they suspend him due to that. And then people like Peat start saying that the reason must be indeed how bad the people who designed and assembled the steering wheel felt, and if you disagree, then it is because you litter so that litter pickers have something to pick up . While I agree that is not nice for mechanics and engineers, also I don't think that the "damage" generated to them is what normally would cause a suspension (and I guess this is what some misinterpreted before), and there must be further reasons behind it.

Edited by prty, 13 August 2021 - 14:59.

[HP]

NoForumForOldPole, on 13 Aug 2021 - 11:32, said:

The pitlane one is the most evident as, correct me if I am wrong, pit limiter limits revs on whatever gear it is set to (I had pit limiter on my road bike once - because race bike ), so he had to deliberate pull the clutch or put on N and rev it as he would not be able to rev to the moon otherwise. This would let everybody know in the pits that he is to no good - utter stupid or he wanted everybody know to about his tantrum.

 

Anyway I know better way of blowing the engine, dropping the gear at the wrong rpm...

That can be prevented these days, mechanically and/or electronically.

 

Though I have blown up 2 engines (not deliberately), because I was reeving them high in low gear.

[Requiem84]

HP, on 13 Aug 2021 - 15:04, said:

That can be prevented these days, mechanically and/or electronically.

 

Though I have blown up 2 engines (not deliberately), because I was reeving them high in low gear.

 

The same applies to overrevving. 

 

They can quite easily limit the overrev capability by electronic means. I think they purposely don't do this in MotoGP, as it can sometimes be beneficial to not upshift if you're at lean angle, or if it's a short acceleration zone etc. 

 

These engines can handle a little bit of over-revving perfectly fine. 

[HP]

Apparently Vinales issues started when Michelin changed tires mid season after his excellent run in his first year at Yamaha. Why that tire change from Michelin?

 

IMO if tires continue to be the same that doesn't bode well for him should he end up signing for Aprillia.

[HP]

Requiem84, on 13 Aug 2021 - 15:06, said:

The same applies to overrevving. 

 

They can quite easily limit the overrev capability by electronic means. I think they purposely don't do this in MotoGP, as it can sometimes be beneficial to not upshift if you're at lean angle, or if it's a short acceleration zone etc. 

 

These engines can handle a little bit of over-revving perfectly fine. 

 

How much is a little bit? And even if the engine could handle Vinales treatment perfectly fine, why would any company keep an employee that successfully or not appears to sabotage their product? This is a trust issue and at that stage parting ways is usually the best solution for everyone involved. And of course there is the monetary side of this split, which is quite a substantial amount in this case.Both side doing the best tom present things from their side.

 

Also somehow the clutch is being mentioned in this case which is something else that needs to be considered. To avoid too much unexpected energy getting unto the tire after a gear change, one could program the clutch to slip and smoothen the impact. Given the tire reports I can easily see that some clever engineers come up with ideas to help the rider to manage the tires better. When the clutch is allowed to slip, then managing overreeving gets a bit more complicated.

 

I owned an RD 250 years back, and man, doing certain things on that bike was quite scary to me. With those MotoGP machines that are more brutal and have much more power than that RD 250, I think Vinales was quite fortunate. I marvel that he didn't crash somewhere doing all of what he did.