Vinales and Bagnaia fought for victory at Misano in 2020 when the former was still at Yamaha, with long-time leader Bagnaia crashing out on his Pramac Ducati.
In last Sunday’s San Marino GP, Vinales ran Bagnaia hard in the first half of the 27-lap race but couldn’t find a way through on the factory Ducati rider.
Vinales hoped he could pressure Bagnaia into a repeat of his 2020 Emilia Romagna GP blunder, but praised the Italian for making no errors.
“I tried from the beginning because I always had on my mind the race from 2020 when I put a lot of pressure on Pecco and he made a mistake,” Vinales, who eventually finished third, said.
“I was trying it but he improved, he didn’t make one slight mistake to put the bike in.
“From the beginning I was feeling very good, but when Enea [Bastianini] passed me I started to struggle a little bit.
“Then I just said ‘ok, today it’s third. Maverick, it is what it is’.
“We will come back stronger for sure, we are very happy with Aprilia and all the Piaggio group.
“We are working very good, that’s the way to go for the victory: step by step and with the evolution we are doing.”
The San Marino GP was just shy of one year since Vinales joined Aprilia after his acrimonious split with Yamaha midway through 2021.
Reflecting on his progression to becoming a frontrunner on the RS-GP, Vinales says he is happy “that I enjoy the races” now.
“More than proud, I feel I never gave up, not even one tenth,” Vinales said of the last year with Aprilia.
“I kept working, I know the potential that I have.
“I know from the first day the potential that the Aprilia can arrive to. That’s what we are doing, so I’m very happy, very pleased about the results and pleased that I enjoy the races.”
