Maverick Viñales rejected the suggestion he had risked it all when selecting Miche🍨lin’s soft compound rear tyre for Sunday’s British Grand Prix, and instead pointed to rival Marc Marquez’s dramatic engine failure as the pivotal moment in his quest for victory.

The 22-year old had been strong throughout free practice around Silverstone, the s💙cene of his first premier class win a year ago, an🍰d once again found himself in victory contention come Sunday as a pulsating five-rider fight for the podium ensued.

Viñales had used morning warm-up to come to a definitive decision on tyre choice, with his selection of th𒈔e soft rear appearing a brave move when each of the other top ten qualifiers had opted for the harder optiꦿon.

Yet when listening to the Catalan detail his afternoon soon after a f𒊎ine ride to second place, 0.114s back of eventual winner Andrea Dovizioso, it was clear he felt tyre choice was not the deciding factor. Rather, it was Marquez’s engine failure, which occurred just in front of Viñales’ M1, that had the greater impact.

In his eyes, that moment allowed Valentino Rossi, leading at that time, and dark ⛦horse Dovizioso, who ultimately swept to victory, to steal a vital march, leaving Viñales with too much to do in the final five laps. 

“Well, I think it [the tyre selection] was not a gamble,” said Viñales, now 13 points behind Dovizioso in this absorbing title chase. “We were working really hard with the soft, doing al🦋l that we can trying to make the tyre life longer. Honestly, I felt re🐼ally great on the bike. In the first lap I was just trying to save tyres until the end.

“It was quite hard when Dovi and Marc overtook me because I know my strongest point was at th🔯e end, the last ten la🐻ps, so that’s what I did. I just trying to save the tyre and I push at my 100 percent in the last five laps.

“Honestly, it was quite scary when Marc broke the engine because I didn’t know if it was oil or water, so I lose a lot compared Valentino and Dovizioso aꦡnd this break in points. They go away a little b🐻it.

“But we were able to catch them and trying to fight for♚ the victory.🔯 So, I’m really happy that in the last lap I feel strong again as always. The bike was working well, so happy for that.

“This race was really tough because we were five riderꦇs doing the same lap times until the end, so it was very tough to be strong and to be consistent. Also it’s a demanding track. Honestly, ꦜit was good.

“A pity that I lose so much there when Marc broౠke the engine, but I’m really happy anyway. We come back stronger again. I know in Misano we did a good job and we can recover good points in Misano.”

Movistar Yamaha’s first double podium since Argentina follows a successful one-day te🃏st at Misano, where both Viñales and Rossi worked diligently on improving the M1’s electronics settings to preserve the rear tyre.

However, well respected French journalist𒀰 Michel Turco later suggested that both men had found Yamaha’s 2018 chassis very much to their liking at the shakedown, and had the new frame f✨itted on their race bikes this weekend.

Cal Crutchlow had also intimated the Yamahas had something new that aided performance in the UK, but was unwilling to disclose exactly what that was. "I know what they have done because Maverick told me…but I’m not going to share it with you," he said on Sunday evening. "I will share it with Honda. They have definitely made a ste😼p."

Either way, neither Viñales nor Rossi revealed they were using anything new other than revised electronics settings. “Yes, we improve a lot in Misano, especially on the electroni♛cs,” said Viñales. “But still we have to improve because the competitors are really good, especially in the hot conditions. So, still we have a lot of work to do but we are getting closer every race.

“We were suffering in Austria so we wer🃏e looking forward to improve a lot in Misano in the hot temperature, and we did it. We didn’t focus so much in trying to balance the bike or modify so much, because already we modify a lot and we didn’t find any advantage.

“So, we just tried to improve the electronics and improve the consistency of the t🧜ires. I think we did it this wee🧸kend. It was really good and nice to ride again fast

“I’m happy. I’m proud about the team. We did a really good job this weekend and we have to continue like that. We don’t have to forget that there is more tires than the hard and that can work a𒐪s it happened today.”