MotoGP team respond to “ultimatum” rumour about their under-pressure rider

One of MotoGP’s most at-risk riders for a 2026 stay has received a blunt assessment from his team boss.

Raul Fernandez has struggled aboard his Trackhouse Aprilia for the majority of the season.

He has an Aprilia contract which extends into next year but that hasn’t spared him from the rumour mill that he could be replaced unless results consistently improve.

Team boss Davide Brivio - whose decision to promote Ai Ogura from Moto2 has been widely praised - was clear in his message to Fernandez.

“Raul has a contract and we will absolutely respect that,” Brivio told Motorsport.com.

“There are no dates or ultimatums, but it’s clear that Raul needs to react – and he needs to do it for himself.”

Raul Fernandez: 'I'm not here to race for money'

Fernandez said about earning his stay in 2026: “I think it’s something that I even talked about with the team.

“I’m not thinking about a timeframe. I don’t want to live in a situation like that.”

“I have a very good team and a very good factory. But I need to be happy too, and I need to find [a way] to enjoy… and get off the bike with a smile on my face.”

He added: “I also communicated to [Brivio]: that I’m not here to race for money. [Money] is a consequence, but I come here to enjoy myself.”

Fernandez finds himself 18th in the MotoGP standings ahead of this weekend’s Silverstone round.

This is his fourth season in the premier class, and this third riding an Aprilia, but he has never higher than 16th overall.

This year, Fernandez has badly struggled to extract performance from his bike.

However, there is reason to believe he is on an upward trend.

Fernandez emerged from the Jerez test, after the Spanish MotoGP, buoyant and insisting he had found something which would lead to lap time.

He duly converted that into his best round of the 2025 season last time out at Le Mans.

A repeat of Fernandez’s 10th-place finish in the Le Mans sprint, and his seventh-place finish in the grand prix, would make his future look much clearer.