Maverick Vinales has drawn parallels between his current KTM contract dispute and the breakdown in his previous relationship with Yamaha, arguing that MotoGP teams have repeatedly pushed him to the edge.
The 10-time grand prix winner has made no secret about his frustration with the way KTM has handled his contract situation, publicly pinning the responsibility on the Austrian manufacturer for jeopardising his future in MotoGP.
Ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix, Vinales claimed that he had signed a contract extension for 2027, only to be told the deal was no longer valid. Speaking after Friday practice at Sachsenring, the Spaniard said the latest episode had brought back memories of his turbulent split with Yamaha in 2021.
Vinales was fired by Yamaha midway through that season after he allegedly tried to damage his bike’s engine at the Styrian Grand Prix. He had already agreed to leave the team a year before the expiry of his contract prior to the infamous Red Bull Ring incident.
“What I said on Thursday is basically the truth of the situation and what happened,” he said. “So this is the truth and I don’t want to hide the truth because it is the same as it happened in Yamaha. A lot of people start to say that I have mental problems. No, I don’t have anything.
“The problem is the teams that push me to the absolute limit with the things, with the decisions. They know very well that if I feel that the team is giving the maximum for me, I will give a thousand percent for the team.
“But as soon as you put me on the side, for me, this is gone. I need to feel that I am valued for the project and for the team. That’s why I always said that I’m really happy with the engineers because they give me the value I need.
“As I said, I signed a contract that was really bad for my confidence, even for the future. To make decisions or different decisions was very bad. But I trust in the engineers. I trust in the project.”
Maverick Vinales, Red Bull KTM Tech 3
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
KTM has been stressing that it wants to wait until Vinales has recovered from his shoulder injury to assess his true performance level in MotoGP.
The brand’s motorsport boss Pit Beirer also appeared on TV during Friday practice at Sachsenring, insisting negotiations only stalled after he learned the available seat was with the satellite squad rather than the factory team .
Beirer also left the door open for Vinales to continue at KTM’s satellite squad next year, subject to his recovery.
But Vinales said he doesn’t expect to remain on the grid next year and said his immediate focus is returning to full fitness and rediscovering his pace after the summer break.
“I don’t know if it’s still an open door or not. This, we will see,” he said. “But from my point of view, it’s hard to say something. After all that happened, it’s hard to find a light to go on with this.
“But what I really would like to do is to forget all of this, trying to be positive and come back strong after the summer. So for me, the summer is the point where I come back, I release and I try to do the best. So that’s why I need to keep insisting to try to go back where I can be.
“Obviously, every track has different difficulties, like Mugello was very tough. Still, I was not ready. Assen, just in two corners, I lost 0.6s in two turns of direction. So still, for me, it’s a way to go. But I think I’m in a good direction.
“So in the future, I have no idea. I have really no idea. At the moment, I understand that I’m at home next year. But in any case, I will put the maximum I can do for this last, for the second part of the season.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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