MotoGP – Yamaha decides to change Viñales crew chief

Bruno Gomes

July 10, 2018

Maverick Viñales, according to Spanish journalist Natacha Alfageme, will have a new crew chief next season after Yamaha Racing decided that the relationship between the rider and Ramon Forcada isn’t the best for the team.

Since joining Yamaha coming from Suzuki, Viñales got the crew that stayed with Yamaha when Jorge Lorenzo moved to Ducati, and that was a decision Yamaha took because the Japanese management thought that Forcada would be a good crew chief for Viñales and would help him understand how the Yamaha bike works.

For the first few months things seemed to be working just fine, and Viñales started 2017 in great form, securing pole positions and race wins. But then, things went wrong for him, and suddenly the relationship with his crew chief Ramon Forcada was bad.

Even with all that happened, and with Valentino Rossi asking Yamaha to let him be with Forcada, the team decided to have Viñales and Forcada together, hoping things would get better.

But things didn’t get better…

So, Yamaha Racing has finally decided to change things inside the garage, and from 2019 onwards Maverick Viñales will have the help of a new crew chief – to be announced – while Ramon Forcada might finally move to the other side of the Yamaha garage and join Valentino Rossi.

There’s still another possibility that Forcada moves to the new SIC Yamaha satellite team.