Maverick Viñales has vowed to continue giving hi෴s all for Yamaha after a disastrous day for the manufacturer aꦯt Aragon, which saw the 23-year old qualify eleventh, the first of the grid’s four M1s.

The issues from Friday remained. A lack of g👍rip prevented Viñales from lapping the 3.1-mile Motorland Aragon track wi♍thin 0.9s of pole sitter Jorge Lorenzo, and he admitted motivation in such circumstances was difficult to muster.

It was all a contrast to 2017, when Viñales was on pole position. His final time from today (a 1m 47.810s compared to his 1m 47.635s of last year) underlined Yamaha’s decline. Ri🍒vals Honda and Ducati have “improved one second,” he explained. Now a modest top-ten salvage൩ job is the height of his ambitions.

“Everyone improved one second from last year and we went two tenths back,” he explained. “It seems like the bi🀅ke works l𝔍ess than last year. It looks like this. Anyway, I think I should run a little bit faster than last year but not as I expect to be.

“It’s what I said. In the test I felt qu💜ite great b🌌ut in the race weekend it’s impossible to have the same consistency as I had in the test. It’s impossible. I slide a lot in the tyres.”

On his quꦬalifying efforts, Viña🍨les continued: “Well actually in Q1 I didn’t do the best because I didn’t use the second tyre. So the lap time in Q2 was with a used tyre.

“Then I got one new one and I got one problem with one sensor and I couldn’t finish the lap. I think my lap t♋ime is not true. I would have been a lꦗittle bit more in the front.

“Honestly, I gave my best. I tried to be concꩵentrated as always. I tried to take the maximum from what I had. I mean, in FP4 it was really quite OK. In that moment I was giving my best every lap and it seems to be complicated to be fast but, anyway, tomorrow we’re going to try and make another step.”

Is motivation in such moments difficult to conjure? “Yeah, fo😼r sure,” he said. “It is because we know we can be in the top three. That’s why it’s difficult to keep the motivation high.

ꦫ“At the moment, as I said yesterday, when the things don’t go [well] I try to work a little bit better. So it’s what I’m trying to do – to make it 🐓work a bit better to see if we can be inside the top ten.

“In qualifying finally I think I didn🌺’t make a good lap because my lap time was with a used tyre from Q1. In qualifying I need to take it up. I need to rest with the feelings I had in FP4. It was OK, but not great, because I was pretty far from the top, but it was OK.”

On whether he feels part of the malaise stems from a disconnect with t🔯he Yamaha factory in Japan, Viñalꦅes preferred to not think about such matters.

“I’m really concentrated just on today and being ready for tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t want to think about next year, otherwise it will be bad and I will make 15^th. I need to keep concentrated on this year.

“I’ll do my best to trust the bike, to trust t🧜hat we can make a small step. As I saidℱ, I need to be ready so that when the bike works a little bit good I can be there. I don’t want to think onto the next year already.”

On the three-place grid penalty he received for touring around the racing line in Q1, he was accepting. “I think from what I saw I disturbed Bradle𝔉y. So rules are rules. It’s like this. I can’t say anything more. It’s like this.”