Miguel Oliveira is one of the riders with an uncertain future in MotoGP. Currently with Trackhouse Racing and nearing the end of his contract, he aims for continuity or a possible promotion to the Aprilia factory team – which has a vacant spot after Aleix Espargaró announced retirement at the end of the year. However, to achieve this, he needs to show performance on the track.
Asked whether it’s more comfortable to be on a satellite team with a good bike or on an official team with a challenging bike, the #88 replied: ‘I think that that goes into a lot of speculation, and I don’t like to speculate. I think for every rider the main target is to be on a competitive bike with a competitive team, and with a good salary, good conditions – everything comes into perspective when you chose a seat for your future’.
That said, Oliveira admitted that it’s not desirable to have a lucrative contract if the performance on the track is not as desired: ‘I don’t think is a good investment when you come to a point where you probably are well off in the bank, but not on the track. Because our life is basically this one, we don’t do anything else. But every move is based a little bit on hope that in the future after you invested your energy into one project it pays off. Everyone is doing two-years deals right now. Two years might be enough, maybe not; we don’t know. We are signing off the last two seasons of this current era of MotoGP, so I don’t think everything will change so much in two years’.
Will the 2027 rules be a factor to consider in deciding what to do in the future? The Portuguese denied: ‘Not really, it’s still a bit far, so I’m really focusing on these next two years’.