Tech3 KTM MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales will be sidelined for at least four consecutive grands prix - as his absence won't be limited to just a withdrawal from the Austria weekend.
Vinales, who before his left shoulder injury at the Sachsenring hadn't missed a single MotoGP round through injury, returned to riding at the Red Bull Ring but always suspected he might not make it through the weekend.
That suspicion came true on Saturday, as Vinales did three laps in the opening qualifying segment before calling time on his weekend.
But he stuck around at the track for his media duties - and confirmed afterwards that he will also sit out the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
Vinales acknowledged the Balaton Park circuit, which will host its first MotoGP races next weekend, is uniquely ill-suited to him trying to race himself back to fitness given the amount of changes of direction and expected physical exertion.
"I think the layout for Hungary - probably one lap and I go home," he quipped.
He suggested he could've continued with the weekend here - and that he even felt better on Saturday morning than on Friday - but it wouldn't have been wise for "safety".
"The main concern is to be safe - especially in terms of having a crash, more than anything else. Maybe I could ride, this is not impossible, but the main concern from the doctor is if I have a crash and everything is going much worse."
Vinales indicated he was advised by both the MotoGP doctors and the surgeon who operated on him, Dr Giuseppe Porcellini, not to push his luck.
"The tendon seems quite OK. So I don't have too much pain from the tendon. The thing is that they put two stitches in the labrum. That [creates] the rigidity, and if I crash the damage can be big.
"I tried to not listen too much, I tried to ride, but now I understand what they mean. Even to battle on the bike [was really difficult].
"If I start to push - for sure, if I do the quali and I do the sprint, I'm sorry, but I will push, I won't ride for riding. Even when I was cruising, I was not that far [off] in Q1. [But] we need to understand if a step back is a bigger step forward in the following weeks."
Vinales will now focus on trying to recover at home and being in the best shape possible for the Catalan Grand Prix at Barcelona in early September.
"I have three weeks to Montmelo [Barcelona] and see how I arrive - but I see that it's a long way [to being fit].
"Now I understand the doctors, when they told me 'it's two-three months'. I didn't believe them until today.
"We need to be realistic, the shoulder has its own terms. Clearly I sped up the recovery a lot, but I need more time."
Test rider Pol Espargaro was on standby for Vinales at the Red Bull Ring, but the substitution didn't happen in time.
But Vinales believes that Espargaro, if chosen to ride at Hungary, "can have a good opportunity". He already performed impressively in relief of Vinales at Brno - and has the advantage of having tested at Balaton as part of MotoGP's manufacturer testing at the new circuit.
