Vinales says lack of front-end grip hindered Jerez MotoGP showing

Vinales, who won the first two races of the season in Qatar and Argentina, struggled to run with the pace-setting Hondas throughout the Jerez weekend and qualified fourth.

He ended Sunday's warm-up session joint-quickest but was unable to translate that into pace in the race as he finished sixth, 24 seconds behind Honda's race winner Dani Pedrosa and complaining of a lack of feeling at the front end.

"Today we bring home 10 really important points for the championship," said Vinales.

"It was really difficult.

"[I had a] good feeling in the warm-up, I was feeling maybe I can go with Dani and Marc [Marquez] and fight until the end.

"But in the race I had no feeling on the front.

"In the morning I feel really good, everyone could see my laptimes were really constant, good on the line, good on the braking point.

"This afternoon was totally different and a disaster on the braking points.

"I was braking 30 metres earlier than this morning. You can understand."

Asked if he believed the problems to be the fault of his Michelin tyres, Vinales said: "I cannot tell."

Vinales, who after qualifying on Saturday said he had been suffering with issues in left-hand corners, added after a crash in Austin it was important he made the finish in a race where he was not as competitive as he had hoped to be.

"Already from the first lap, when I had a moment with Iannone, and then all the braking points on the right-side corner I was really slow.

"I nearly crashed two or three times in corner 11.

"I know I crashed in Austin for the same problem as today but today I have the luck that I was not so fast as in Austin.

"I had some riders in front and I could not push 100 percent, that's why today I saved the crashes."