Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales has explained in detail why he is relishing his new MotoGP chapter with the Austrian manufacturer.
After spending multiple years with Aprilia, the Spaniard jumped ship at the start of 2025 to ride for his fourth different MotoGP manufacturer.
Although the move to Tech3 means Vinales rides customer machinery for the first time in his premier class career, he spoke highly of what it means to represent both Tech3 and KTM.
“I just feel very proud to wear the Red Bull KTM Tech3,” he told the media including Motorsport Week, on Thursday ahead of the British Grand Prix.
“I feel very proud of it, and as sooner I start to feel proud and I start to feel that there is no game. This is very serious. I start to perform really good.
“I’m enjoying everything, I’m enjoying the moments, which I think it’s now bringing a lot for us and especially for KTM it’s bringing a lot of motivation.
Vinales sits 11th in the standings, two places behind the lead KTM rider, Pedro Acosta.
He initially finished second in Qatar before a tyre pressure penalty demoted him down to 14th, but he responded well with fourth and fifth-place finishes in Jerez and Le Mans as he continued acclimatising to the RC16.
“And I feel like this year, that the team has a lot of faith in me and I’m carrying this is on my shoulder, so there’s a big job in front of us, but I accept this challenge, and I want to give my best. That’s all what I want.
“It’s just the way I see it. It’s different. I don’t know [why], maybe now I’m older. Maybe I think I’m young again.
“I go into my 30s, but maybe I feel I’m 17 now. But with experience.”
Maverick Vinales explains why a first KTM podium is ‘possible’ at Silverstone
Nine years on from his first-ever MotoGP win with Suzuki on British soil, Vinales explained another rostrum appearance could be possible.
Including his first win in 2016, the 30-year-old has racked up four podium finishes for Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia.
“It’s okay. It’s cold for everybody. We will use the softer tyres,” he revealed.
“But it’s looking always really positive for me when I come to Silverstone, it is a track I really enjoy to ride.
“But to be honest, in the last four or five races that I’ve been enjoying so much riding the KTM and actually on a really good level.”
There are certain elements of the Austrian marque that Vinales still needs to adapt to, but he declared that a podium is a “realistic target” for himself and the team.
“So, for me, I keep the same mentality. I need still to learn, because in the last way, we did a little mistake with the tyres, especially with the rear tyre on wet, in the flag to flag,” he pinpointed.
“So it means that we still need it to learn the bike and to learn a little bit more or make more experience with the bike.”
“However, I feel quite prepared, I feel on a good level and see what the opportunity brings here in Silverstone.”
“It’s always a realistic target, to be honest. It’s obvious that then during the weekend, it can happen a lot of things.
“But Silverstone, is those kind of tracks, that if I have a smooth weekend, it’s possible.
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