What Vinales revealed about his complex MotoGP situation
Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales hopes his lingering MotoGP injury saga will finally turn a decisive corner this Catalan Grand Prix weekend, as he returns to action.
But he will need to quickly get up to speed to safeguard his MotoGP future, which looks a lot murkier relative to the off-season.
KTM is widely believed to have got cold feet, due to his injury struggles, over promoting him to a works seat next year, so a 2027 seat that was once earmarked for Vinales appears to be gone now - and the rest of the landscape is unclear.
And as Vinales himself acknowledges, his place in that landscape is determined on him proving he can return to true fitness.
The injury
Previously a MotoGP 'ironman' who only missed grands prix for non-injury related reasons, Vinales has been sidelined for 11 separate grands prix since damaging his left shoulder at the Sachsenring in July last year.
He though himself physically ready for the start of the season but went under the knife again in late March to remove a displaced screw - which he is now convinced is the culprit for his bad form to start the campaign (and the mismatch between his pre-season performances and actual race weekend pace) and which he traces back to a crash during the Sepang test.
"It's good that we decided to make the second operation because it was really necessary," said Vinales.
"Taking out the screw and cleaning all the joints was mandatory. If not now, in the summer. So it was a good moment to do it now.
"For me the biggest issue I had was that Friday, FP1 was good, and then practice by practice I had less power, less mobility, and when I finished the weekend, the arm was completely destroyed. And for us it was the screw, clearly it was the screw. And all the scar tissue I had around the screw."
Vinales has only tried a supermoto bike in the lead-up to Barcelona but was left encouraged by a "very different" feeling to how it was before this latest surgery.
He said he has sufficiently rebuilt the strength in the shoulder - by virtue of a three-week stint at Red Bull's Athlete Performance Center in Thalgau, Austria - but acknowledged there's bulking up to be done in the chest and back area.
As for returning for Barcelona - which hadn't necessarily been anticipated, with stand-in Jonas Folger having indicated last weekend that he expected another call-up - Vinales said it was prioritised to avoid coming in cold at Mugello, a much more physical track.
"To come back at Mugello, I think it's a disaster. So come back at Montmelo [Barcelona], smooth introduction and see how the shoulder reacts. But I'm not too worried, to be honest. I think I will find the strength. I don't know how competitive I will be on the Friday or Saturday, but I know day by day I will be more competitive."
The future
KTM's signing of Alex Marquez into is factory team in 2027 is an open secret, and it emerged at Le Mans last weekend - via multiple reports - that Fabio Di Giannantonio has accepted an offer to be his team-mate.
It places Vinales in a complicated situation, made more complicated by a detail he revealed at the Barcelona track.
"My situation is that still I have one more year of contract, KTM has the right to renew. It's like this," he said.
Tech3 team-mate Enea Bastianini has been reported as being in the same boat, and this has been pointed to as the hold-up standing between a desired reunion between Bastianini and Gresini Ducati.
"Obviously our main target, and also from KTM side, is to see if I recover," Vinales said.
"Because if I don't recover - I could be the best guy in the world, but this is business and this is racing. But if I recover, then it's another story."
And he said he was convinced KTM would not leave him hanging and deny him other opportunities if it had no plans for him.
"The relationship we have is really good with KTM. Especially with Aki [Ajo, factory team boss]. I don't see them doing that.
"They know clearly what I can do, they see on the data every single day. For us, our concern with KTM is whether I will recover. My feeling is yes - but I have to recover. My feeling is yes, I can recover, but when? in 2030? That's a bit too long. That's clear.
"In this moment I'm injured. I know I'm a racing horse - but if I'm injured I cannot pretend to be pretty and ha-ha, I need to work. I have to recover. And then when I recover, I have the power to say 'Now'.
"But if I am [limited], they say 'Well, maybe we have to find another plan'. But this is totally normal, I understand totally."
The added complication is that it remains unconfirmed whether KTM will be able to field riders next year outside of the factory team - as Tech3's new boss Guenther Steiner said at Le Mans he was still mulling whose supply deal the team will take for 2027.
Vinales said he had "no idea" whether KTM could end up with a reduced entry next year.
"I hope not, because it's a brand I love, so I hope not. Maybe you have more news than me!"
