Dark period for Maverick
Maverick Vinales is experiencing a disastrous 2026 season. After the 2025 injury, which occurred exactly 12 months ago during the Sachsenring weekend, the Spaniard was counting heavily on this season to return to the top of MotoGP and had called on a former rival, the five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo, to help him. The collaboration between Mav and the former Martillo was one of the most talked-about news of the winter, also due to Lorenzo’s huge social media presence, who often and willingly posted training sessions with and without a bike that he subjected his protégé to.
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However, when things started to get serious and the World Championship began, the situation immediately deteriorated. In the first eleven rounds of the season, Vinales’ best result was 11th place in Catalonia, he never scored points in a Sprint, missed three races due to injury, and is currently stuck in 22nd position in the championship with fewer points than MotoGP rookie Toprak Razgatlıoğlu.
Throughout all this, Maverick is now completely at odds with the Tech3 team and KTM – it is not impossible to think that he might not even finish the season with the Austrian manufacturer – he has no seat for next year and Jorge Lorenzo’s figure has practically disappeared from the radar. The collaboration between the two seems essentially over, although not even a shred of official communication has arrived to mark the farewell. If Lorenzo’s plan was to create a new career as a MotoGP coach and start this path with Vinales, the result has frankly been a disaster.
Zero support from Lorenzo
Among the Spanish media, there are also those who have pointed the finger at Lorenzo himself for the type of training he allegedly subjected Vinales to in the off-season, unsuitable for a rider who was still recovering from a serious injury and a long absence from racing. The experienced journalist Diego Lacave, speaking on colleague Nico Abad’s YouTube channel in early July, clearly stated that Lorenzo bears some responsibility for Vinales’ flop: “Did Jorge Lorenzo serve any purpose for Maverick Vinales? No. And I believe there is a possibility that the training load during the preseason was not adequate for the treatment he should have followed for the shoulder problem“.
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“This is a matter that was not even officially announced that each followed their own path. The matter was left to die in a rather striking way – he added – I believe things went badly for Vinales in every sense. And also for Jorge, because he wanted to build a status as a coach and prove he had a lot to offer, and I believe he still does, working with a MotoGP rider. But these kinds of projects are always complicated“.
After the Sachsenring weekend, where Vinales himself had complained to his own team about the lack of support, Abad increased the criticism: “I believe there was a lack of words from Jorge Lorenzo directed at Vinales – Abad emphasized – because all of Lorenzo’s words were: ‘He is in a bad situation, he is struggling in MotoGP’, literally. Because it is said that, since the shoulder injury, he gives a bad image to sponsors and they do not trust him. Wow, is that what you say about a rider you yourself promised to make world champion? It really seems harsh to me. I felt the lack of at least some affection from Jorge towards Maverick. What Viñales himself said is that, at the moment he needed some affection, he only received criticism from his team”, Abad concluded.
