Vinales will beat Rossi next year, predicts Espargaro

Vinales dominated last weekend's Silverstone race to secure Suzuki's first triumph since 2007, as the GSX-RR bike thrived at the British track.

Espargaro finished the race seventh, and admitted that, while the bike was in its most competitive state of the season, it was primarily Vinales who made the difference on the day.

"The bike has improved, that's true," said Espargaro. "But at Silverstone the temperatures were low and we know that when the temperature rises and the tyres start to work, we struggle.

"But Maverick has been more competitive than me all of the first half of the season, which is the important part. He didn't win by chance.

"And doing it with such a big gap is not easy, not even with a Yamaha."

Espargaro went on to say that Vinales - the youngest rider on the MotoGP grid bar Jack Miller - will be ready to contend for the title next season when he moves to Yamaha, and that he will have the measure of future teammate Rossi, who is 16 years his senior.

"[Maverick] is very talented and also very young," Espargaro told the media in the build-up to Misano, well before his own on-track run-in with Rossi.

"Except Marc [Marquez], the rest of the riders who are in front are older, and that makes them think twice about certain things, when Maverick doesn't hesitate for a thousandth of a second.

"That mentality is what has made Marc successful, and what can make Maverick win. I can see Maverick fighting for the title. He will have to learn a lot of things, like having a bike to lead races and win.

"All that he's done this year is great, but when he has a bike to win next year it won't be that easy. I think next year he will finish ahead of Rossi."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont