WATCH: Maverick Vinales leap off Yamaha at 230km/h as brakes ‘explode'
A week after he had to duck to avoid a spiralling Ducati and undergo surgery, Maverick Vinales throws himself off brake-less M1 at 230km/h
For the second weekend in succession, Maverick Vinales is counting his lucky stars he avoided more serious injury after suffering a catastrophic brake failure that forced him to throw himself off the Yamaha M1 at high-speed.
Just as it did at the Red Bull Ring a week ago, Yamaha were suffering with debilitating braking issues that sent all four riders – including championship leader Fabio Quartararo – the back end of the field fighting over the minor points.
However, frustration would nearly turn to disaster for Vinales when his brakes failed entirely as he pumped them on the run to the tricky Turn 1. Acting quickly, Vinales launched himself off the bike and roll across the circuit, fortunately avoiding being collected by another rider.
The excellent foresight was vindicated when the Yamaha M1 stayed upright and slammed into the air fence nose on with such force, the machine instantly caught fire.
Bringing the race to a red flag stop, it comes after Vinales suffered another major fright when he was also collected by the high-speed and catapulting Ducati of Johann Zarco after colliding with Franco Morbidelli behind them.
Either way, it’s a third poor result on the trot for Vinales – one of the pre-season favourites – but he was merely thankful to again suffer no dire physical consequences.
"I started to lose front brake pressure. I was trying, trying. I went wide one time, I was saying, 'pfft, difficult race'," Vinales told reporters, including sister publication Crash.net, after the race.
"I made three very slow laps, then I pushed again, then again without brakes and Quartararo, Valentino and Petrucci overtook me.
"Then I was recovering a lot to Valentino and Fabio and suddenly, in Turn 1, the brakes exploded. I think the parts go away on the brakes, so I remained without brakes.
“I could not stop the bike, impossible. I understood very well that the brake was broken or something, so I decided to jump."
With only eight points accumulated from three of the last five grands prix, Vinales is already staring down a 22 point deficit to his Yamaha counterpart.
