It is safe to say that the relationship between Maverick Vinales and KTM has turned irreparably sour. The new Tech3 CEO, Guenther Steiner, who was quite vocal initially about Vinales’ complaints, has now chosen to stay out of it. 

In an interaction with motorsport.com, Steiner said that the matter has nothing to do with him, stating that this is a dispute between the rider and the parent company, KTM. He then explained that Vinales and Enea Bastianini are employed by KTM, but moving forward, Tech3 will handle its hirings and contracts directly. 

“Unfortunately, I have nothing to say, and I'm not going to give my opinion because I'm not involved in his contract. It’s a contract with KTM, and obviously, and I'm not trying to avoid giving my opinion, because I love doing that, as you know, but this time I can't say anything because I don't know the terms of the contract," he said.

“From now on, the contracts will be with Tech3. That was in the past, because when we bought the team, it still had all the contracts signed for this season, but from now on, we'll go our own way,” Steiner added, as reported by motorsport.com.

Vinales has previously accused KTM of abandoning its original plan of promoting him to the factory team, and that he was not given clarity regarding what the bikemaker had planned for him.

According to reports, there was a clause in his current contract that prevented him from negotiating with other teams until a certain date. 

The rider also opined that his future in MotoGP was effectively finished when it enlisted Pol Espargaro, Dani Pedrosa, and Pedro Acosta for a special test on the 850cc bikes with Pirelli tyres. 

And going by what Pit Beirer has just said, the writing on the wall is only getting worse for Vinales. 

Pit Beirer: “I didn't know that this is for him no option”

The KTM motorsport director was quite open about his assessment of the situation. After claims by Vinales that KTM cancelled his new MotoGP contract, Beirer has revealed (via Crash.net) it was the rider who was not interested in staying at Tech3. 

Beirer also justified the decision to go after Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez by stating they could not just wait too long for the rider market to close, and for Vinales to regain form after his comeback from injury. 

Furthermore, since Beirer views both Tech3 and Red Bull KTM as equal parts of the bikemaker’s flagship racing programme, he wanted Vinales around as an option, but the rider seemed to underestimate the opportunity. 

“There was a moment when we had the chance to get Alex and Fabio, and in that moment, Maverick was just nowhere near showing us that he would come back to that old form. We wouldn't need a better rider than Maverick was exactly here a year ago when he had this unlucky crash in the rain.

But from there things somehow went terribly wrong because later on we told him, ‘There will be a space for you, but we cannot tell you where and what.’ But then it looks like he underestimated that this could be also the team where he is today, where he had great performances last year. I didn't know that this is for him no option.”

Read more at Motor Culture

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason