A year in freefall: Maverick Vinales, from KTM Factory to leaving MotoGP

Sachsenring 2025 marked the beginning of the end for Maverick Viñales. A year later, Sachsenring 2026 risks being (for now) his last Grand Prix contested in MotoGP.

Not due to an early termination of his contract expiring on December 31 with KTM Tech 3. Despite what some media outlets have suggested, there is no room to maneuver, with the rider himself flatly denying this possibility in recent days. Unfortunately, he could add nothing positive regarding his health condition, with that injured left shoulder currently preventing him from planning the time and place of his return to the saddle.

That KTM at the start of 2026, right around his birthday, had promised (or rather, foreshadowed) him a promotion to the Factory team for 2027–2028 is hardly news. Less known, however, is the fact that this move, without the shoulder injury sustained precisely at the Sachsenring last year, would have been brought forward after the summer break of the past season. A sort of seat and team swap with Brad Binder, the latter in a technical slump and seeking solutions to regain lost competitiveness. If not for that crash in practice, Viñales would have joined Acosta at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the second half of 2025.

From this immediate “promotion”, in a year Maverick Viñales has found himself without a MotoGP seat for next season. KTM Tech 3 decided a month and a half ago to bet on Senna Agius as a rider to develop, while more recently they finalized a deal with Luca Marini. For the 2013 Moto3 World Champion there is no longer a spot in MotoGP, and what’s more: the shoulder hasn’t healed at all.

Missing the upcoming British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where he will be replaced by Pol Espargaró, risks being the first in a long series. Publicly, both parties have confirmed that the timelines for his return are indecipherable and undefinable. In 2025 Viñales rushed things, twice bringing forward his return from the Sachsenring crash. Inevitably, he carried that troublesome shoulder with him throughout 2026, to the point of being forced to retire early from the race at Sachsenring.

KTM expressly requested that Maverick Viñales be treated during the summer break at the Red Bull APC (Athlete Performance Center). All the necessary tests showed that the supraspinatus tissue in the left shoulder has fully healed, but a small lesion was found in the infraspinatus, which will force him to stop for a period. “I don’t know how long it will take to recover,” admitted Viñales. Out of MotoGP and facing uncertainties about a future that will not see him (by his own choice) in Superbike, he isn’t ruling out a role as a potential “super substitute” and a few one-off races like the Suzuka 8 Hours.

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