‘Over the limit all the time’ - MotoGP winner makes key bike breakthrough in Hungary

Maverick Vinales says the KTM MotoGP bike has to be ridden “over the limit all of the time” to get the best from it, which he currently doesn’t have the strength to do.

The Spaniard has struggled to get back to the leading form he had on the RC16 in the first half of last season since injuring his shoulder at the 2025 German Grand Prix.

Still rebuilding the strength in his right shoulder following surgery on it to remove a loose screw in March, Maverick Vinales noted earlier in the Hungary weekend that he was finding “no strong points” on the bike.

However, the grand prix allowed him to understand better how to extract more performance from the RC16.

“Half of the laps of the race were quite good, to be honest,” he explained, after finishing 15th at Balaton Park.

“I could ride in 1m39s-low, which, for me, was the target, to ride quickly without losing positions.

“At the moment, I’m trying to understand really how to go fast with this bike.

“Somehow, when I was alone and I could brake really hard and deep, the lap time was coming.

“So, the feeling I have is you have to ride the bike on the limit all of the time to make the lap time.

“So, to make the lap time with the bike you have to push over the limit all of the time.

“So, still I need to work on the strength to go in this moment.”

He added: “My problem is that when I have to go behind somebody, I have to brake a little bit earlier, the bike doesn’t stop. So, I really need to put the load into the front.”

Vinales believes he is close to being at full fitness again, and his breakthrough in understanding the bike has been timed well with a week's gap until the next round at Brno.

“Soon I think I will be in a really good physical position,” he said.

“I think now the week off is going to help a lot to have more strength.

“For me, with this bike, you have to ride it really aggressively on the brakes.

“So, I think at the moment I don’t have the power to do it. But in the race I started to understand how to do the lap time with the bike.”