Maverick Vinales says he “misunderstood” what penalty he had to serve for jumping the start of the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix, after mistakenly taking the long lap.
Vinales was handed a ride-through penalty having been deemed to have jumped the start, but thought he had to take the new-for-2019 long lap instead.
The Yamaha rider did so on lap seven while running inside the top eight, before taking his ride-through on the following tour. He recovered to finish 11th.
Vinales knew a penalty would be coming is way, and admits he simply made a mistake having misunderstood jump start procedure following talks held in the Safety Commission in the wake of the Cal Crutchlow incident in Argentina.
“I misunderstood the penalty a little, but anyway, besides the mistake, it was a good race weekend for us here,” Vinales said.
“I already knew there was a chance I would get a penalty, and that's just the way it is. At first I thought I had to do a long lap.
“But then I saw the 'ride through' [message] and thought 'OK, I have to do this'.”
Vinales says his slight movement at the start was caused by the bike getting a “bit hotter” while sat on the grid and the clutch engaging as a result.
“I made a mistake at the start,” Vinales, who is now 40 points adrift of the championship lead, added.
“I was starting really well all weekend. In the race I tried to do the same, but on the grid the bike got a bit hotter and the clutch engaged and the bike started running.
“It's a shame, because I felt really good during the race. The good thing was that the bike was working really well.
“We had a good set-up for the race. We need to keep working and find the best system for the start.
“The start was actually good, as in that I didn't lose any positions, and I tried to overtake some riders.”
