The 2025 British Grand Prix provided a breathtaking moment for KTM as investments from major shareholder Bajaj Auto from India saved the Austrian brand from bankruptcy. While what’s going to happen next is still decided, Bajaj is set up to have stronger control over KTM’s decision-making as part of an investment of nearly 600 million euros.
There are still question marks on KTM’s MotoGP project, but Bajaj is considered valuable at least in the medium term. So anyway, things continue for KTM now anyway.
However, if the UK Grand Prix passes by, KTM cannot proceed exactly as it is. The low grip, cold and windy conditions of the silverstone exposed all of the KTM’s weaknesses on the 2025 bike.
None of that rider reached the second quarter, but Pedro Acosta got his best Grand Prix results in the sixth and 7.1 seconds of victory. Maverick Venares was 12th and the next best KTM, while Brad Binder was only 14th, courtesy of Honda’s Luca Marini’s tire pressure penalty. “Horrifying” was the way South Africa described his afternoon.
Since the beginning of this year, most of KTM’s stable houses have not been very satisfied with the direction the RC16 is ongoing. However, Silverstone saw the veil in their frustration. Acosta released steam to the media on Sunday after the British Grand Prix.
“It was a race of despair,” he said. “It’s very sad to see them get perfect with acceleration and pick up and try to pick up (bike) and (lean) angles and close everything (with others) (other angles) for something clear that other bikes have no grip of this amount of grip.”
The day before, Acosta sat down and asked KTM to quickly find a fix for the issue. When I asked him if he needed to be more patient after the Grand Prix, he snapped:
He continued to repeat for another year with his contract with KTM, “I really believe in this project,” but “I don’t want to come with KTM and burn fuel.”
These comments literally came the day MotoGP’s second year Acosta turned 21. And, in a sense, he emphasized the immaturity that sophomore students expect from world championships, who date back just four years ago.
Linked to the 2026 factory Honda movement. Avenue looks like he’s been closed as Jorge Martin is trying to activate the clauses of his Aprilia contract to leave the brand at the end of the year. Perhaps that’s why there was this rather sudden, sharp tone change from Acosta.
The truth is, here, KTM doesn’t have time to convince Acosta of a long-term future. But KTM has at least something that can be used to direct the RC16 in the right direction and ultimately soothe Acosta.
Maverick Venares shows the other KTM MotoGP riders in their way
After seven rounds in 2025, Acosta’s point tally is 58 points, with just 8.2 points per round. This is in stark contrast to the 101 he scored at the same stage in his rookie campaign. He is still the main KTM in the rankings, but not that much.
Maverick Vinales’ first year at KTM was a surprising hit. His run, which was the second most shocking in Qatar before being stripped of him due to a tire pressure penalty, was an extraordinary performance in which MotoGP’s most distinctive rider is famous. However, the subsequent top five runs in Spain and France’s GPS under various conditions proved there was something deeply encouraging.
All British Grand Prix were KTM riders, so it was tough for him. Seven rounds later, he sat at 45 points 55 points less than he managed at the same stage last year. But if he’s on his Qatar podium, he’s 65 years old, and a round average of 9.2 points per round. It’s slightly better than where Acosta is, but that’s important.
After a modest winter, and after the start of the season, Venares quickly became a reference slider for KTM, with Acosta and binders taking the bike in the direction Venares was working.
“At the beginning of the season, it wasn’t easy because I didn’t feel the cycling flow,” Vinall tells crash.net in an exclusive interview with Silverstone. “But we started talking to Manu (Kazoo) crew. He said, “Odds Maverick, focus on your feelings, forget about your lap times as you’ll have. You’ve always had the speed to focus on your emotions, so you started to concentrate more on your feelings. The 10th really puts us at the point to fight for the race.”
Regularly this season, Vinales is a level head rider for KTM Stable and always reminds the media (probably his stable at the same time) that developing a bike is a process. His frustration at Yamaha was kicked out of his team during the 2021 campaign, far from Rider, who left his two-year contract a few weeks ago.
Maverick Vinals
Vinales goes through the unpredictable project frustration stage, and they understand how to approach things better. Acosta clearly doesn’t make sense given that he won twice champions in the first five years of his Grand Prix career.
Today’s KTM bikes suffer in low conditions and continue to suffer from vibrations in the rear. These are inherent issues that contributed to Silverstone’s anguish. But Venales’ Level Head helps you understand where the bike actually is and how to make the most of your current package.
“For me, with traction and straight,” he replied when asked where the RC16 was. “The bike is a rocket. It’s huge (speed), so fast. So you always have to get this profit from the bike. This isn’t easy because not all the trucks are accelerated and straightened for a long time. This is the moment I need to improve.”
“We had the idea that KTM should be actively riding. The Po (Espargaro) L, Brad, Brad and Brad are very aggressive on the bikes. But when I arrived, I started riding aggressively.
It was key to Vinales’ stepping stone against KTM, but he was clearly able to do it more instinctively than his stable ones. Binder admitted he’s still pushing too much over the UK Grand Prix weekend, but Acosta’s hard braking style, which earned him some big results last year, is the total odds on how the bike is riding now.
What Pedro Acosta can learn from Maverick Vinall
Through his interview with Vinares, he was philosophical about the work in front of him. Ten years at MotoGP, he spent a lot of time – and many hard knocks matured. KTM can consider himself lucky to welcome himself into that fold when he welcomed Vinaru.
Vinares has always been convinced for himself that he knows how to make a bike a winner. In the winter, he talks about how Yamaha opposed his 2017 bike advice and believes he managed to win the title that year on the car he wanted. It deserves endless reflection, but KTM is clearly getting something from his feedback this year.
“Obviously more than you have the confidence you need to be in MotoGP, that means KTM can rely on itself for the future,” he said while talking about the fact that his direction is being used by his steady. “This is very important, but I want to win, but I want KTM to win, so I’m on this project. So it’s important for them to see this kind of thing and I’m sure we’re doing a great job on this side with my crew chief Manu.”
The maker you ride will be the second last only by the virtue that Fabio Cartararo’s Yamaha broke when he took the course for a victory at Silverstone.
It appears Acosta is at this stage in his life. He certainly supports KTM, but his vision (as all young racers are guilty) is very focused on immediate results. When Crush placed a crash on Silverstone, it was clear that his complaints could be attributed to the fact that he had a breakout rookie campaign he had done at KTM.
“No, I signed that contract – to fight for the championship,” he replied. “It’s obvious. You even lose to fight, but you even fight for it. But I’ve been talking about this issue since the first day of the test I did with this bike. But it’s still there. The problem isn’t new.
“Maybe this year, the lap times are even closer, faster, and even worse for us. Maybe it’s even more difficult for us to compete for more brands, which doesn’t seem as good as we thought.
In the winter, KTM team manager Aki Ajo was talking about “keeping simple” when it comes to bicycle development in 2025. This is because in preseason tests, all four riders were doing different things, so they scrubed to find some direction.
Quartarraro said after the first few rounds, Yamaha has done too much to the bike, and that he needs to be able to adapt first to extract form from the M1. He currently has three pole positions, a position near his podium at Jerez and a victory at Silverstone, and has benefited more from the small chassis, engine and aero updates brought between Spain and the UK.
Acosta has matured in recent years and gained a bit of a reputation for being based on his approach. However, in the face of his truly tricky years at the Grand Prix race, his lack of experience has become a bit pervasive.
“You’re just young until you’re not. Many stars in the championship grow very quickly and disappear quickly,” he said in Silverstone. Without a doubt, his KTM stable Maverick Vinall falls into that category given his MotoGP career trajectory.
But on how that shaped the Vienal for current riders, I think the target is the same, as they just need the same championship as me.
Vinales’ approach is currently useful for a deeper shift in KTM’s competitive outlook for the 2025 season. If that happens, KTM’s hopes to maintain Acosta beyond 2026 have been greatly boosted. Similarly, Acosta is never ending in seeing more than a bike in the #12 Tech3 garage…