Yamaha has suspended Maverick Viñales from participating in this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
In a press release issued today, the Monster Energy Yamaha said Viñales had been suspended for “the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend’s Styria MotoGP race”.
According to Yamaha, this behavior was visible in the data logged by the Yamaha M1, and that data forced Yamaha to draw the conclusion that “the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike, which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race”.
Though Yamaha would not expand on this statement when asked, the behavior they are referring to is clear from reports by people at the track, and is visible in the lap times.