Thailand MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro: “Panic, I couldn’t breathe”, Maverick Vinales “began to lose mental clarity”
The heat was so bad t𝓡hat Maverick Vinales (main picture) pulled in and retired after suddenly dropping 🐼from tenth to last place with just two laps to go.
"I wasn’t doing badly, but at a certain poin🔯t I began to lose mental clarity due to the heat,” Vinales explained. “Especially on the straight, when I would lie down on the bike, the sensation of heat was astonishing.
“At a certain p🍰oint, the𒁏 best decision was to stop. Continuing to risk did not make sense. Clearly, this is a situation we need to discuss. There will be other races with high temperatures.”
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Team-mate Aleix Espargaro and RNF’s Raul Fernandez were likewise in real trouble by the closing stages of th🌱e 26 laps but held on to reach the flag in fifth and 15th respectively (Espargaro later dropped to eighth due to low tyre pressures).
“I couldn't breathe. It was the hardest race of my life,” Espargaꦛro said. “In the last 3 laps, I even started to panic, beca꧒use I tried to breathe, and I couldn't. So I was super worried.”
“All the heat from the bike - th♔e engine, chassis, everything, goes into the lungs, and we couldn't breathe,” Espargaro added. “Maverick stopped because of this and Raul told me in the middle of the race, he couldn't breathe. So he decided to slow the pace in th💃e last part of the race.”
Aiꦜr temperatures 🍨were 31 degrees on Sunday, combined with 60% humidity.
“Yes, it always happens. Every single year, in the same ci💎rcuits, for☂ the last four seasons,” Espargaro revealed. “But today, it was really really, really on the limit.
“They [Aprilia] are trying things, but for the momeꦜnt, nothing is working. We tried like a tube this morning in the warm up, Raul and I, but it's not giving anything.
“I don't know why the biﷺkไe gives this temperature, it's crazy.
“The last time I rode another bike that was not an Aprilia was 7 years ago, so I don't remember [the heat from other bikes]. But especially, Maverick coming from Yamaha, or Raul coming from KTM, I talked with him, and he told me he received zero heat [problems] last year. So it's very strangღe.”
Fernandez confirmed: "✨After 10 or 11 laps, the heat was really bad and the last five𝓡 laps were not good at all. I was close to stopping the race but for my respect to the team and Aprilia, I continued to get at least a point."
The fourth🐬 Aprilia, of Fernandez’s RNF team-mate Miguel Oliveira, retired early in the race due to a technical issue.
The next event, at Sepang in Malaysia, could ꩵbe as hot if not hotter✅ than Thailand.
Peter has been🐽 in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentin🙈o Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
