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In a statement issued by Yamaha on Thursday morning ahead of this weekend’s second Red Bull Ring race, it says it has withdrawn Vinales’ entry from the 11th round of the championship.

Yamaha says it has suspended Vinales over “unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle” during last Sunday’s Styrian GP, in which Vinales finished in the pitlane owing to what he claimed were numerous electronics issues which were giving him a “pitlane” message on his dashboard.

Yamaha says it’s decision is based on analysis of data and concluded Vinales’ actions could have “potentially caused” engine damage, which in turn could have created serious risk to himself and to those around him.

He will not be replaced this weekend and his participation in other races is subject to further discussions in the team.

A statement from the team read: “Yamaha regrets to announce that Maverick Vinales‘ entry to this weekend‘s Austrian MotoGP event has been withdrawn by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team.

“The absence follows the suspension of the rider by Yamaha due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend‘s Styria MotoGP race.

“Yamaha‘s decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last days.

“Yamaha‘s conclusion is that the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race.

“The rider will not be replaced at the Austrian GP.

“Decisions regarding the future races will be taken after a more detailed analysis of the situation and further discussions between Yamaha and the rider.”

This is just the latest chapter in the ever-souring relationship between Yamaha and Vinales, which has deteriorated beyond repair across the 2021 season.

After convincing winning the Qatar GP, Vinales has struggled for form on his factory M1 and has only scored one other podium so far this season – finishing second at Assen just a week after he was stone last in the German GP.

After the German GP it wasn’t clear whether Vinales would actually race in the following week’s Dutch TT, with Yamaha thought to have put test rider Cal Crutchlow on standby for Assen – making him unavailable at Petronas SRT to fill in for the injured Franco Morbidelli.

Crutchlow offered a different version of events last weekend, claiming he didn’t race at Assen because he was due to test in Japan.

Yamaha announced on the Monday after the Dutch TT that it had agreed to release Vinales – upon his request – from the final year of his current contract with the team, which was due to expire at the end of 2022.

He is thought to be taking up a seat at Aprilia, though nothing is yet confirmed.

Vinales made a strong start to last weekend’s Styrian GP before it was red-flagged, with his race unravelling at the restart.

He stalled his M1 on the grid and had to start from pitlane, and struggled all race, eventually finishing through the pitlane due to what he claimed were electrical problems.

Vinales stated after the race that Yamaha changed the clutch on his M1, which was a normal procedure after some problems in 2020, and the feeling on his bike completely changed.

On Facebook, Vinales’ father claimed Yamaha was deliberately sabotaging his son’s machinery.

Vinales didn’t say anything similar, but did suggest to Spanish press last Sunday that his relationship with Yamaha management is bad.

“Let's see, it's not uncomfortable,” Vinales said of the team dynamic.

“Me, with the team, with my mechanics, I'm great. Another thing is with the Yamaha bosses, but with my mechanics I am perfect and grateful because we have made the most of it.

“Sometimes it doesn't come out anymore, but nothing happens, it is what it is.

“We must keep pushing and hopefully by the end of the year we will have the opportunity to have the bike that I had this Sunday in the first outing.”

Since joining Yamaha in 2017, following a strong first half to the campaign, Vinales has repeatedly struggled with numerous problems on the M1 – a lack of rear grip, lack of front feeling, poor feeling in the early stages of races on full fuel and bad starts.

Yamaha has made numerous changes to the personnel in the team over the years to try and help him, most significantly ousting ex-Jorge Lorenzo crew chief Ramon Forcada in favour of Vinales’ ex-Moto3 crew chief Esteban Garcia in 2019.

At Barcelona this year, Garcia was swapped out for ex-Valentino Rossi crew chief Silvano Galbusera – though it’s thought this only worsened tensions between management and Vinales.

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“Yamaha‘s conclusion is that the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race.

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Originally posted by RichardC:

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“Yamaha‘s conclusion is that the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race.

What did he do?

Rev limit burnout donuts on the track at pit out?

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The Red Bull Ring has faced much criticism in the six years since MotoGP started going back there, mostly about the safety of the riders on track.

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The Red Bull Ring has revealed the designs of its revised layout for MotoGP from 2022, which will now feature a chicane at the current Turn 2 to improve safety.
Safety at the Austrian venue for MotoGP has been called into question over the past year following three-successive races being red-flagged for serious incidents - the latest coming last weekend when Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo Savadori were involved in a fiery crash on the exit of Turn 3.

The biggest incident happened at the current Turn 2 left kink, which runs up to the right Turn 3, when in last year’s Austrian Grand Prix Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli collided at 200mph.

Both riders’ bikes then flew up hill and narrowly avoided hitting Yamaha duo Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi in a terrifying scene.

To stop a repeat a barrier was put in place that runs along the outside of Turn 3, while major safety improvements were put under discussion for 2022.

On Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Austrian GP, the Red Bull Ring unveiled the designs of its revised layout that will be used by MotoGP from next year.

Riders will exit Turn 1 as normal and carry on towards the Turn 2 kink, where from 2022 they will brake and go right, then left through a chicane before continuing up to Turn 3.

The new layout is aimed to reduce the approach speed to Turn 3 and stop any major incidents from occurring again, like the Zarco/Morbidelli one from 2020. Construction on the new layout will begin in November of this year.

Formula 1 will continue to use the current layout going forward, though the revision has been designed in conjunction with the FIA and MotoGP’s governing body the FIM.

A statement from the Red Bull Ring read: “The Red Bull Ring has hosted Formula 1 since 2014 and the Motorcycle World Championship since 2016.

“Since then, hundreds of thousands of fans have experienced numerous great race weekends at the Spielberg.

“In order to further improve the attractiveness and safety of the Austrian Grand Prix circuit, a chicane will be built in the area of the second turn in coordination with the FIA and the Formula One Group as well as the FIM, Dorna and AMF.

“The necessary construction work will start in November and continue over the winter so that the Red Bull Ring can start the 2022 season with the new track layout for two-wheel racing series.”

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The Sepang Racing Team made its grand prix debut in 2015 in the Moto3 class before expanding to the Moto2 class.

In 2019 it stepped up to MotoGP as Yamaha’s new satellite partner with backing from Petronas, bringing up Fabio Quartararo from Moto2 and signing 2017 Moto2 world champion Franco Morbidelli. The squad was a breakout success, Quartararo on a ‘B-spec’ version of the YZR-M1 scoring seven podiums and six pole positions.

The team then won six races across the 2020 campaign, Quartararo on the factory-spec M1 and Morbidelli on the year-old ‘A-spec’ bike – the latter finishing runner-up in the championship to Suzuki’s Joan Mir.

SRT always hoped to be a breeding ground for young talents, using its Moto2 and Moto3 projects as a pathway to the MotoGP team. This will now likely only happen for one rider if SRT Moto3 rider Darryn Binder makes the jump directly to MotoGP in 2022 as has been rumoured.

SRT has been thrust into a 2022 rider line-up dilemma since Maverick Vinales elected to quit the factory Yamaha squad at the end of this season.

Yamaha will promote Morbidelli to join Quartararo next year, while Valentino Rossi’s retirement – announced last Thursday – means SRT will need to find two riders for 2022.

Its main choice was star Moto2 rookie Raul Fernandez, who in turn wanted to join SRT as he felt the Yamaha would better suit his riding style. But Fernandez has been locked into a KTM contract for the next two years which will see him step up to the Tech 3 squad.

Rossi protege Marco Bezzecchi was next in line to join SRT, but now looks set to move up to MotoGP next year with the VR46 Ducati team alongside Luca Marini.

Motorsport.com has now learned Petronas plans to back out of its title partnership with SRT, with the squad scrapping its Moto2 and Moto3 teams to protect the MotoGP project. It is understood that Yamaha has renegotiated its deal with SRT, offering it two ‘B-spec’ M1s – essentially non-works bikes – for 2022.

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Originally posted by stickman428:
Prior to the flag those first few laps at Austria were awesome. It was close and there was lots of action. I’m hoping for more of that on Sunday. Watching Mir make an aggressive move and get the better of Marquez was pretty damn fun.

Cal Crutchlow calls Austria “a shit track” but where did he finish the race? Hmmmm. Doesn’t seem like a track were he is very good... I’d almost be so bold as to call him a shit rider at that shit track.