Vinales: Yamaha getting "less and less" power with electronics

Vinales had led the championship by 26 points after last month's Mugello race,  but a 10th-place finish in Barcelona and a crash in Assen nullified the Spaniard's advantage.

A fourth place finish last time out at the Sachsenring means the Spaniard heads into the summer break five points adrift of new leader Marc Marquez, who picked up his second win of the year in Germany.

Vinales had complained about the electronics of his Yamaha after ending up 11th in Saturday's wet qualifying at the Sachsenring, and backed up that statement post-race despite it being held in the dry.

"Somehow in the [past few] races that we’ve struggled, we modified the electronics and we lost a lot of the power," explained Vinales. 

"Every race, less power, less power, and now it looks like we need more power from the electronics.

"Some races we get really confused, and we need to keep the same line from the beginning, the same electronics. But we’ve changed it a lot during all the races.

"I think [on Sunday] also we weren’t also 100 percent with the electronics, as in the wet. So we have to work to get this confidence we had at the beginning of the season."

Chassis decision not mine to make

Sachsenring marked the second race in succession that Vinales raced the new Yamaha chassis he first tried in post-race testing at Barcelona.

The Spaniard said in the run-up to the race that he felt the new frame didn't suit his way of riding as well as the one he began the year with, but added post-race that any decision to ditch it would require the approval of the team as well.

“It’s not a decision I can take alone, it’s joint," said Vinales. "We are a team and we need to try to go in the same direction.

“At the moment I feel good, but I repeat: I felt better with the bike I had at the beginning of the season."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont