Coming into the 2023 Argentine Grand Prix, it looked to be a weekend where the factory Aprilia duo of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales would shine, given both their pre-season form and the circumstances of Espargaro’s stunning maiden victory at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit 12 months ago.
That was backed up by a very strong Friday, with lightning-fast pace from both on display in the opening sessions of the weekend as Aprilia ended the day holding a 1-2 and earmarked by most rivals as the favourite for glory.
However, the end result was far from successful for the Noale firm’s works team.
Mixed conditions in qualifying left the grid juggling to choose the right tyres at the right moment, which meant neither Vinales, nor Espargaro quite optimised their grid positions, both forgoing a (correct) dice roll on the slick tyres.
For Saturday’s sprint, even with the track dry, that left them both right in the thick of mid-pack battles – and it turned into nothing better than seventh for Vinales, who’d lost a winglet, and a crash for Espargaro while pushing just a little too hard.
The new format meant that they at least had a chance to make amends on Sunday – but the reality was far from it as heavy rain at Termas saw all three Aprilia riders (including RNF satellite racer Raul Fernandez) struggle to make any impact at all. And while injured new RNF recruit Miguel Oliveira, the winner in both of last year’s wet races, could’ve perhaps fared better, the massive deficits suffered by his Aprilia stablemates over the 25 laps on Sunday suggest he too would have found himself frustrated.
So what exactly went so wrong for the trio of RS-GPs? Well, rather worryingly, it seems that the current Aprilia machine’s character simply doesn’t like wet conditions, at least according to the most detailed assessment for their situation not by a factory rider but the relative newcomer Fernandez.
“It was super difficult,” he admitted. “I’m happy, but at the same time a little bit frustrated.
“I’m happy, because I was fighting with the factory boys, but I’m frustrated because it was for the last places. Three different riders, three different styles, three different settings on the bike, and the same result.
“I think to be honest our bike is really competitive and I’m really happy, but the bike character on some points is too aggressive.
“It’s something that we have to understand. Why with three different styles we got the same result, why we were all more or less in the s**t.”
Aprilia’s weekend
Friday practice
Espargaro, P1, +0.000s
Vinales, P2, +0.162s
Fernandez, P18, +1.057s
Saturday qualifying
Vinales, P5, +2.355s
Espargaro, P9, +2.997s
Fernandez, P13, +0.035s to escape Q1
Saturday sprint
Vinales, P7, +0.220s per lap
Fernandez, P14, +0.644s per lap
Espargaro, DNF
Sunday race
Vinales, P12, +1.044s per lap
Fernandez, P14, +1.196s per lap
Espargaro, P15, +1.447s per lap
“We have a lot of electronics [assistance] and we lost a lot of time,” Fernandez continued. “We can’t prepare the overtakes, and that is the principal reason why we weren’t faster, or why we couldn’t fight with them. I think this is just one race, and for the future we can do anything.
“I like Aprilia’s mentality, and I’m sure they’ll bring to use something for the future to improve this problem.”
More specifically, he says that it’s an issue arising out of the aggressive nature of the bike’s engine – something that he’s not entirely hopeful will be too easy to tame for the future.
“I don’t know what they can say, but when I saw them,” the Spaniard said of racing against his factory colleagues, “I saw that their acceleration was too s**t compared to the other ones. I think more than the electronics, it’s the character of the bike. Something that we have to improve, because if we want torque we have to eat the tyre too much.
“The problem was bigger here. It’s something that I have to learn, but I’ve felt it since I touched this bike. In wet conditions, we saw that it was something bigger, the problem is bigger.”
That’s a view very much echoed by Aprilia’s other two riders, with Espargaro admitting that a lack of wet running time on the current iteration of their bike worked against them to deliver the surprise result – and to expose an unexpected weakness of the bike.
“It’s difficult to understand, really,” last year’s winner added. “In some stages of the race, I thought I had a flat tyre.
“I couldn’t open the throttle even in the straights. The bike was spinning, I had to change gears [well] before the limiter, because the bike wasn’t going forward. One of my worst races ever, and a really long one.
“I did a good start, I think I was P4 and the first two laps I felt OK. But then when everyone started to push, started to put some temperature into the tyres, it was just spin, spin, spin. I recovered on the brakes, but when everyone started to get more feeling and brake on the limit, there was nothing more I could do.
“Sometimes, it’s the mechanical [grip] that forces the electronics, sometimes it’s the opposite. I think it’s more the mechanical grip though. The bike doesn’t really pitch – it’s a very rigid bike and today was very difficult.
“It’s been a really frustrating first two races.
“In Portimao I had really good speed, but I couldn’t do a solid result. Here, I also got the fastest lap of the weekend in the dry, but then the rain came.
“I’m a little bit sad, disappointed, with the first two races. But the year is long and I will believe. There are still a lot of races.”
