Sepang is always an interesting race. It comes at the time in the season when, mathematically, championships can be won, and lost. At the beginning of the weekend there were three riders who stood a chance of taking home the inaugural Moto3 honours; Sandro Cortese, Luis Salom and Maverick Vinales. However Maverick Vinales has removed himself from the running by refusing to race for his team, Blusens Avintia, due them being “a second division team,” and perhaps more importantly the fact that his manager, who is also the team manager of said “second division team”, had failed to inform him of other offers for next year. The situation is further complicated as Vinales had signed a two year contract (one year in Moto3 and one year in Moto2) with the Blusens team.
Most people understand that a formal contract, such as one outlining your employment for the next two years, is legally binding and breaking it without evidence of negligence on behalf of the contract provider. Even considering that there are most likely other factors involved in the split, it’s hard to see how Vinales will be able to break the contract without legal repercussions, most likely having to pay a sizable amount of money. Dorna, the parent company of MotoGP, may even take it upon themselves to deal with Vinales, although what they would do is much harder to predict. Some possible options are a ‘ban’ from riding for the two years that the contract would have been in affect, ‘You ride for us, or no one.’ This depends on how the contract is worded and perhaps more importantly how good the lawyers are for each side, if it does reach that stage.
There are much broader implications for Vinales too, the most severe being the risk to his career. Even for a teenager Maverick has proved himself to be a hot headed and despite being very quick on a motorcycle it makes him much less attractive to prospective teams. Many talented riders such as Cortese, Marquez and Lorenzo have been known to be hot heads on the track, especially in their younger days. But few of them openly walked away from contracts or refused to ride, their situation may have been slightly different but the point stands.
This incident also bring up the idea of a rider union, a collective of riders and legal representatives who ensure fair practice amongst the teams. There are several problems with this however, first there is the issue of funding. Teams are currently struggling for funding and this union would require funding, and probably a lot of it, but there is almost no where for the money to come from, apart from the pocket’s of the riders. This would be very unlikely as the majority of riders struggle to get paid as it is. There is also the issue of getting a ride being almost as competitive as riding the ride. This fact would potentially make riders less likely to join as they may feel that by helping another rider to get a ride it stops them obtaining one too.
It is likely that whatever happens Vinales will be back next season, probably in Moto3 aboard a KTM based bike. But it will take time to see how this issue plays out for both Vinales and Blusens and if any legal action is taken. It will also take time to see if Vinales’ career is in fact hindered by his antics because regardless of who the blame lies with walking out of a contract and with three races to go is not the proper way to handle a contractual dispute. Just as it is unprofessional for teams to release riders without valid reasons and proof so too is it unprofessional for riders to break contract without valid reasons and proof.
However a further spanner has been thrown into the works as some Spanish journalists are reporting that Vinales may be in Australia, most likely to ride the bike in the hope that he will be able to terminate the contract in a more amicable way. Yet this too creates potential problems as it may make people view Vinales as a hot head, as mentioned before. There may also be the issue of how the legal troubles, if there are any, will play on the young Spaniards mind. We’ve already seen him falter under pressure at various stages and all these troubles could add to his problems. We saw in 2007 that Valentino Rossi struggled on track while dealing with off track legal troubles, and he had already won five of his premier class titles, unlike the young Vinales.
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MotoGP and WSBK contracts have been shown to favour the team over the rider, as demonstrated by the apparent ease at which a team may expunge itself of a rider. Case in point being the firing of Moto2 rider Kev Coghlin by text msg and then being unceremoniously dumped from the team truck at the nearest airport.
ReplyDeleteThis is not unsurprising given the inequality of bargaining power, where for all but the top riders it is a case of 'sign it or don't ride'.
The case of MV is not unique, we have seen other riders terminate contracts early without recourse to the courts, VR46 being a good example. We have not however seen too many other riders walk out on an agreement. It is likely a court will not take MV's actions as being conducive to constructive bargaining, regardless of the inequality of negotiating parties.
Is there any legal basis for this claim of a loophole offering shelter for our wayward Maverick? ..."On January 12, 2013, Viñales turns 18, the age of majority in Spain. Spanish law says that adults cannot be held to contracts they sign as children, meaning there may still be a way out of the contract for Viñales"
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