Even though in general Aprilia is still a priority for Maverick Vinales’ 2025 future and vice versa, this racer is indeed thinking about other plans that will show the potential to part ways with Aprilia. On Saturday, during the Aprilia All Stars event at Misano, Vinales did not want to talk too much about his future. The hiring of Jorge Martin – which Maverick learned about after the announcement – doesn’t appear to have pleased him much. One of the signals he expressed was his reluctance to continue with the captain’s armband in 2025.
Thanks to Aleix Espargaro’s recommendation, Vinales came to Aprilia Racing three years ago after his divorce from Yamaha in the middle of the season. After that it wasn’t an easy start, but 2024 started well, with a Tissot Spri win in Portimao and two wins in Austin. All the ingredients to continue the story with Aprilia are there, but the risk of the story stopping at the end of the year is real.
Where does Vinales plan to go? Currently there are two options. The first choice would be Honda, a risky choice. Although it is estimated that Vinales is thinking about HRC because of Aleix Espargaro, who is rumored to be a test rider there, joining this Japanese company may be an economically beneficial move.
But Vinales must understand that currently the RC213V is the motorbike that is experiencing the most difficulties on the MotoGP grid. No one thinks that HRC can’t return to the top, but it won’t be easy and it won’t be quick to say the least. Likewise, Vinales, if he wants to join, he certainly understands the risks and probably won’t set his hopes too high.
Vinales will switch from a very competitive bike to one that is the opposite and we only need to look at the performances of Johann Zarco and Luca Marini to understand how difficult it will be to contribute to this project. The positive aspect is being in the factory team, because Joan Mir was rumored to be thinking about leaving and therefore he offered himself to the Gresini team, following the path of Marc Marquez and several other places including the Aprilia Trackhouse.
However, the second potential would be much more interesting if it were realized by Vinales: KTM. Similar to Enea Bastianini who lost his seat to Marc Marquez, Vinales will look for a place at Tech3 KTM because in general there will be two empty places at Tech3 next season. However, another side effect is that there is someone who will bear the consequences, namely Jack Miller.
Finances at the Tech3 team are definitely less, but the RC16 will be the right bike to achieve a feat that has never been achieved or even attempted by any MotoGP rider: winning races on 4 different bikes. Maverick has been successful with Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia (the only one to do it with 3 different brands) and the potential for history will continue to be recorded if he can win with the RC16 later.
But what about Jack Miller? According to Us, one of the best solutions for Jack is to return to his ‘motherland’, namely the Honda HRC. He and especially when combined with his team including Christian Pupulin have a lot of experience and insight which is very meaningful for the development of HRC motorbikes because they have traveled to Ducati and KTM before.
