Vinales' future looks bleak amid KTM criticism and Steiner frustration
Tech3 KTM team boss Guenther Steiner has admitted to frustration over Maverick Vinales' ongoing fitness woes, on a weekend where Vinales did his hopes of a 2027 MotoGP seat no favours with blunt comments about KTM.
Vinales damaged his shoulder 12 months ago at the 2025 German Grand Prix and has been in a battle to recover since.
But having returned to the track sooner than medical advice, and then had to drop out of more races, he again missed rounds at the start of 2026 when a screw inserted into the bone worked its way loose, requiring fresh surgery.
At that time he was believed to be one of KTM's leading contenders for a factory seat promotion for 2027.
That has now cooled down given his ongoing fitness woes and subsequent lack of form, with the 31-year-old doing himself no help coming into this weekend's Dutch TT by hitting out at KTM over his career prospects.
"In the end if I'm not in the world championship, it'll be because of one party - and that's KTM - not because of anyone else," Vinales told Spanish media on Thursday.
"When the time came, if they already knew I wouldn't be joining the factory team, they should have just let me go, and that's it.
"No one has sat me down and explained how things would play out.
"So if I end up leaving the world championship, there will be only one party to blame; it's crystal clear."
However, while the 10-time MotoGP race winner might be frustrated with his situation right now, it sounds like that goes both ways.
Steiner says Vinales is still in contention to stay at Tech3, but that his fitness situation makes it frustratingly hard to finalise a decision right now.
"I don't know the exact details of him and KTM," the former Formula 1 team boss explained to The Race, "but in the end we all need to be conscious that he's not fit, but we've all got responsibilities and KTM needs to make a decision to be successful in the future.
"In the moment the certainty isn't there. I like Maverick, and he's obviously a good rider. I'm not doubting this. But in this moment, he's not in this form - and it's been quite a while that he's not in this form.
"Obviously he thinks he can come back to this form, but as we all know the proof is in the pudding, and I think we all together are asking where is this going?"
The fitness 'contradiction'
It's a situation made more frustrating for Steiner and KTM by the fact that Vinales' rushed return to action seems to have exacerbated the situation further by delaying his return to full fitness.
"This is my frustrating thing," Steiner admitted. "I said it last year, I said it this year - first you need to be fit.
"You can't say ‘oh I'm fit but I'm not performing because I'm not fit'. You have to pick your battles. It's one or the other. ‘Oh I'm fit.' So why isn't the performance there like when you were fit? ‘Oh because I'm not fit.' This is a contradiction.
"To show your performance you need to be fit. You need to be 100% fit to ride one of these machines, and I think coming back early doesn't make you quicker. It doesn't heal you.
"I think you can't be too hard on KTM in this moment - or at least, he shouldn't be."
Vinales' current team-mate Enea Bastianini is understood to have committed to Trackhouse Aprilia for 2027, and there could be a straight swap with Raul Fernandez coming the other way - despite his previous fractious exit from the team at the end of his rookie season in 2022.
One seat for a rookie
While there are still two open seats at Tech3 for 2026, one of them is a straightforward situation at least.
Steiner is open that Tech3 wants a fast Moto2 rookie - and quick to acknowledge that in this sense at least, his team holds all the cards and has time to study contenders such current Moto2 pacesetters Manu Gonzalez and Senna Agius.
"I'm just waiting to see," said Steiner. "I need to make the best decision for the team, and I've got time to take the decision.
"I won't lose out on anything, and the more time you take to make the decision, I think the better the decision."
