MotoGP ousting circumstances “humbling” for Miguel Oliveira: “Nothing is for granted”

A mid-season injury came at the wrong time in a “humbling” 2025 MotoGP season for Miguel Oliveira, who found himself without options to remain in the grand prix paddock in 2026.

Oliveira entered the 2025 season with a fresh contract with the Pramac Yamaha team that he felt assured him of a long-term future in the project, but an injury sustained at the second race of the season in Argentina saw him sidelined for much of the first half of the year.

This, he said during the pre-event press conference at the Portuguese Grand Prix, delayed his process of getting to know the Yamaha M1, after spending his whole MotoGP career before 2025 on V4 machinery, which in turn, he implied, restricted his ability to show his potential on the Yamaha and thus prove his worth to the project.

“It was a very humbling experience in every term of it,” Miguel Oliveira said, “because nothing is for granted. I came in with prospects of a long-term partnership, knowing that, for sure, I would need some time and the bike would need some time. 

“It caught me off-guard in terms of this injury because it took longer than we anticipated, it was not a ‘quick fix’ injury that you can return a couple of weeks later. 

“That delayed my getting to know the bike and fitting in, taking it to the limit. 

“The decisions forced me to be without a seat.”

Oliveira added that he does not feel “resentment or any kind of regret” about the situation because he knows he did all he could to secure a spot in MotoGP for next year, even though it was ultimately not enough.

“I don’t think I should look at it with resentment or any kind of regret because I know that I gave my best,” he said.

“That’s the feeling I need to end at, at the end of the day: that I did the best possible to stay and the best was not enough.”

“I don’t close the door on returning here”

Off to World Superbike next year to take on the BMW project along with Danilo Petrucci, Oliveira still harbours hopes of returning to MotoGP full-time in the future.

But having spent much of his premier class career in the grand prix paddock without the possibility to win, Oliveira also understands the psychological importance of a technical package that can deliver that potential.

“I definitely don’t close the door on returning here [to MotoGP] as a full rider on the grid, but for the moment there is not that opportunity for me here,” Oliveira said.

“So, what I need to do is to focus on what I actually can do for next season and for this weekend and the future remains open. 

“I think every rider’s ambition is to arrive to a competitive package that is able to win. 

“When you see yourself in a position where you are fighting for something nicer you are able always to give a little bit more, and that’s the little bit more I’m looking for and definitely I can find it on a home GP.”

Dreaming of 2020 repeat

Oliveira famously won the first ever MotoGP race at Portimao back in 2020, when the Algarve circuit hosted the first Portuguese Grand Prix since 2012.

Repeating the achievement he made that weekend remains a “dream” for him, although he accepts that it is perhaps not realistic.

“Every time I visit the track there is some nostalgia about the win I got here in the first season,” he said.

“Obviously, every season you come in and you sort of dream of achieving the same but every year there’s a different challenge and a different difficulty, I would say, and this year is no different. 

“It’s a major pleasure for me to come in front of my home fans and race in MotoGP, it’s an extra boost for me coming as the only Portuguese rider on the grid, so definitely I will give my best as always, but this one maybe a little bit extra.”

On the 2020 win, he added: “It’s definitely one of the best moments because I didn’t get many wins in MotoGP. 

“I would say ‘only five’ but ‘only’ is a very relative term, as you can imagine, in MotoGP! Especially nowadays, it’s not easy to win a race. 

“But it’s one of the best moments of my career, definitely, to come here to Portugal, the return of MotoGP to Portugal, and to win it in the last race was definitely in the highest moments of my career so far.”