Monster Energy Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales has said he expects a stronger weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, after finishing 14th last time out in Brno.

The factory Yamaha rider was the worst Yamaha, finishing over 12 seconds behind his team-mate Valentino Rossi, his worst race result since joining Yamaha at the start of the 2017 season.

Arriving to Austria, Yamaha will be worried as they continue to suffer from their top-speed. The Yamaha’s were once again at the bottom of the charts, over 10ks down on Ducati and KTM in Brno. Austria is a fairly top-end dependant circuit, but the twisty middle sector with the two swooping left-handers could aid Yamaha’s chassis and their riders’ riding styles.

The factory Yamaha team have failed to stand on the Austrian podium since the circuit’s return in 2016, when Jorge Lorenzo delivered a third place finish, Viñales looks to replicate his fellow Spaniards performance this weekend.

Maverick Viñales – 2nd (42 points)

In Brno I didn‘t have the best feeling, but what happened earlier is not important. I will be completely focused on the here and now in Austria, and I feel positive. We know that Spielberg has a lot of stop-start corners and focuses on fast acceleration, but we did a good job there last year. It‘s a difficult track to get right. In 2019 we had a lot of problems with tyre degradation, so that will for sure be an area that we will be working on this weekend. If we do a good job, I think we can have a good weekend.

The MotoGP championship will fire into life for round four on Friday, with free practice one starting at 09:55 local time.