Pedro Acosta has lifted the lid on how the "tough relationship" between himself and KTM has been mended, following an openly contentious start to the season.
Acosta and his camp were known to have been disappointed with the development progress of the KTM RC16 and, more pertinently, the massive financial strife encountered by the manufacturer he had committed himself to the end of 2026.
The 21-year-old sophomore wasn't shy about making his discontent with the bike known in the media, but was also leaving points on the table - and clearly irked KTM with some not-so-subtle public hints at his interest in a defection to Ducati.
Yet going deeper into the season, he has positioned himself as KTM's top rider again - now 62 points ahead of the next-best KTM rider - and across Brno and the Red Bull Ring he has reeled off four consecutive top-four finishes.
"At the end, you know how tough my relationship was with KTM middle of the season," Acosta admitted after KTM's home race, the Austrian Grand Prix.
"And at the end, after Brno, we made a meeting with Pit [Beirer, KTM motorsport boss] and it was like to try to calm down everything, and we started.
"I asked for many things from them, and they asked for many things from me. And I think now everyone is giving a bit for this [to work]."
Acosta indicated KTM has asked him to be "more positive" - but also insisted that he has already been that way since a previous conversation with team manager Aki Ajo.
But he also suggested KTM asked him to accept what the bike is realistically capable of on a given weekend.
"When something is not in your hands, you cannot push harder and harder. Because sometimes you crash and you lose more than what you can gain even if you push less."
That acceptance was on display at the Red Bull Ring, Acosta suggested, as his podium challenge on Sunday ultimately fizzled out.
"I have to be honest, if it's a normal day in the life of Pedro Acosta, I send the bike to the gravel. Because I would've fought for this podium with everything I have.
"But it's true that sometimes you have to think that, when you look for the word 'championship' in the dictionary, the meaning is more than a [single] race. Now we have the same points as fifth [Acosta is seventh on 144 points, the same amount as Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio]."
Acosta also wondered whether he has more points now than at this point last year, though in truth, he is eight points back compared to the same stage in 2024.
He also elaborated on his efforts to ride in a way more synergetic with the current RC16 - which both Acosta and Binder have confirmed is a significant departure from what the 2024 bike was asking for.
"You can't imagine how many discussions I have during the weekend in the box, because I'm not doing the things [on the bike] they ask me for.
"In the end your natural style is something you cannot hide. But I am really trying, I'm really trying super hard."
So how has KTM met him halfway? By improving the bike, it seems.
With the manufacturer's existence secured via a rescue investment from Bajaj Auto and the MotoGP development pipeline no longer existing under a cloud, Acosta was very complimentary of a new aero package KTM had debuted at the Red Bull Ring - describing it as something he'd been asking for since Aragon.
It creates more turning, and Acosta expects it to pay off even more emphatically in upcoming tracks with more of an emphasis on high-speed cornering.
