Qatar Grand Prix winner Maverick Vinales says new Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow has already had a major impact and played a part in his victory in the season opener.
Crutchlow, who was left out of the LCR Honda rider line-up for 2021 and passed up an offer from Aprilia, replaced Jorge Lorenzo as test rider for Yamaha.
Having spent his first three seasons in MotoGP on the Tech3-run Yamaha between 2011 and 2013, he returned to the YZR-M1 in pre-season testing in Qatar, running alongside Yamaha’s Japanese test riders Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Kohta Nozane.
And while it was thought that Crutchlow’s impact would be largely felt on the 2022 bike, given he’d only started testing in March, Vinales said the Qatar GP win was already evidence that the new hire was paying off.
Speaking about the factors that made his breakaway victory possible, Vinales said: “I felt the corner speed was amazing. I was just saying ‘wow’. I didn’t have that feeling during all the weekend, to do that type of corner speed.
“But with Yamaha we worked very hard with the front part of the bike to make it better. Also Cal worked very hard with the bike.
“Especially the way Cal rides the bike is very similar to mine, and helped me to understand many things, especially because he came from a big factory, and he gave us some advice, which was good for the race.
“But still we are not [perfect] yet, so we need to improve, we need to work really hard because it’s just the first race. So, we’re still with our feet on the ground.”
Vinales subsequently said he was finally able to make use of “the DNA of the Yamaha” in the race, which was something he felt had been missing for a while.
And he reiterated unprompted that Crutchlow’s introduction had come as a boon, and that he “couldn’t wait” to test alongside Crutchlow again because “we have the same ideas, same feeling on the bike”.
Crutchlow’s next test is set to be at Jerez in early April, between the second race in Qatar and the start of the European leg of the season at Portimao. However, he is not expected to specifically test alongside the race riders again until the end of the season.
When asked by The Race to elaborate on the exact benefits Yamaha was getting from Crutchlow, Vinales said that his presence gave the race riders peace of mind that they could rely on him to make decisions.
“We ride very similarly, honestly,” Vinales reiterated. “I was quite surprised – in the last day of testing I just tried his bike, and it fits fantastic to me.
“It’s the kind of thing that helps me a lot to just stay concentrated on racing, not concentrated on trying new things.
“And this is a totally different mentality from last year. Because sometimes we needed to test many things, and you know, I wish everything works, but normally nothing works when you try something during the race weekend.”
