Vinales 'really frustrated' by pace in the wet

Having said Yamaha needs to make a step in the wet to keep itself in title contention after finishing fourth last time out in the rain at Misano, Vinales a dismal opening day of practice in damp conditions in Spain.

He set the 17th-quickest time, 1.774s slower than pacesetter Dani Pedrosa, and reiterated that his championship changes are "gone" without improvement.

"Really difficult," said Vinales, who lies 16 points adrift of joint-championship leaders Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso heading into this weekend.

"Honestly, we are really frustrated.

"In Misano we did a lot of steps forward with the bike on the wet, I was feeling good, especially the front.

"But here it becomes so difficult on the bike.

"Especially the acceleration, there is no grip and so much spin that it becomes so difficult to make a lap.

"Going into the corners, I have grip, similar to Misano, but the traction area is the worst part.

"You always try to improve in the wet, as it's also an important part of the game.

"There are some races now like Japan, Australia, Malaysia, which can be a wet race.

"If we are [un]competitive like this, the championship is gone."

Vinales' Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi fared even worse than Vinales, coming 20th, albeit only 22 days after breaking his right leg in a motocross crash.

Satellite Tech 3 rider Johann Zarco however was third, only four tenths slower than Pedrosa, and even though the Frenchman uses a 2016 bike, Vinales feels he can still provide a useful reference for the works team.

"I didn't ride behind Valentino, but we have Zarco that is at the front so we have good data," said Vinales.

"Now we have to analyse where we lose so much.

"It's important also that Zarco is in front, we can compare the bikes really well.

"But it's strange, [because] in Misano I was in front."