Born in Figueres, Alt Empordà, Viñales began competitive racing at the age of three in minimotos before moving to motocross and then circuit racing in 2002, competing in the Catalan 50cc Championship. He became champion of the Catalan 125cc Championship in 2007 and repeated the feat in 2008, also winning the Mediterranean Trophy that year. In 2009 he moved to the CEV Buckler 125GP series with the Blusens-BQR team, partnering Miguel Oliveira; he finished as runner-up to Alberto Moncayo and won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2010 he took the CEV 125GP title over Oliveira by two points, finishing every race of the season on the podium while Oliveira crashed out of one race.
Viñales entered the 125cc World Championship in 2011 at the SuperMartxé VIP team alongside Sergio Gadea. He finished ninth on debut in Qatar, then took his first victory at Le Mans — winning by 0.048 seconds at the age of 16 years, 123 days, making him the third-youngest rider to win a Grand Prix behind Scott Redding and Marco Melandri. Three further victories gave him third in the championship and the Rookie of the Year award.
Viñales entered the newly formed Moto3 championship in 2012 with Blusens Avintia as a title favourite. He won five early races but inconsistency and several crashes left him unable to challenge Sandro Cortese. Before the Malaysian round he controversially left the team and flew home, withdrawing from the race; he later stated the team had withheld offers from other teams and refused to promote him to Moto2. He returned for the final two rounds and finished third in the standings.
For 2013 he moved to Team Calvo, riding alongside Ana Carrasco. He won his first two races with the team back-to-back at the Spanish and French Grands Prix. Multiple late-race overtakes by fellow Spaniard Álex Rins cost him wins at San Marino, Aragon and Philip Island. At Motegi, with the championship hanging on the final round, championship rivals Luis Salom and Rins scored no points after crashing, and Viñales — after a last-corner battle — took the victory and the 2013 Moto3 World Championship with Rins as runner-up.
In 2014 Viñales signed a two-year contract with Pons Racing for the Moto2 World Championship. He took his first intermediate-class victory at the Circuit of the Americas and finished the season third in the championship with four wins and nine podiums, winning the Rookie of the Year award.
Viñales moved to MotoGP in 2015 as a factory Suzuki rider on the team's return to the class, partnering Aleix Espargaró. He became the first rider to graduate to MotoGP after only one season in Moto2. He finished six top-ten results across the season and ended twelfth in the championship, again winning the Rookie of the Year award.
The 2016 season brought immediate improvement. Viñales took his first MotoGP podium with third place in France, then his first MotoGP win at the British Grand Prix — Suzuki's first victory since Chris Vermeulen's win in France in 2007.
After Jorge Lorenzo announced his move to Ducati, Viñales was signed to replace him at Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP. In 2017 he won the opening race in Qatar, becoming the first rider to win on debut for Yamaha since Valentino Rossi in 2004 and the first to win on any team debut since Casey Stoner in 2011. He also won in Argentina and at Le Mans, finishing third in the championship on 230 points.
In January 2018 Viñales signed a two-year contract extension. Despite several early podiums, Yamaha set a new winless streak of 25 races before Viñales won at Phillip Island; he finished the season fourth on 193 points. In 2019 he switched his race number from 25 to 12, citing a desire for change and having used the number in youth motocross. He won the Dutch TT and the Malaysian Grand Prix, finishing third in the championship on 211 points.
The 2020 season, shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, included a brake malfunction during the Styrian Grand Prix that forced Viñales to leap from his bike at high speed at the end of the start-finish straight, causing a fiery crash and a red flag. He scored one win at Emilia Romagna and finished the season sixth.
In 2021 Viñales won the opening Qatar round but results deteriorated sharply, culminating in a last-place finish at the German Grand Prix. At the Dutch TT he qualified on pole but finished second behind Fabio Quartararo. On 28 June 2021 he announced the premature termination of his Yamaha contract. Prior to the Austrian Grand Prix, Yamaha withdrew his entry after telemetry data indicated unexplained irregular operation of his motorcycle during the Styrian Grand Prix, with the team stating his actions could have damaged the engine and put himself and other riders at risk.
In August 2021 it was announced that Viñales would join the factory Aprilia Racing team from 2022, initially on a one-year deal, reuniting with Aleix Espargaró. Yamaha released him with immediate effect on 20 August 2021, allowing him to make an early debut with Aprilia at the Aragon Grand Prix on 12 September. He ended the season tenth with 106 points.
In 2022 his first Aprilia podium came at the Dutch TT; he also finished second in the British Grand Prix and third at the San Marino Grand Prix — three podiums in four races. On 26 May 2022 he signed a contract extension through 2024. In 2023 he scored his first Aprilia pole position at the final race of the season and finished seventh in the championship, two points adrift of Espargaró; he and Espargaró delivered Aprilia's first-ever 1–2 finish in MotoGP at the Barcelona round.
At the 2024 Grand Prix of the Americas, Viñales won the sprint race and the main race, becoming the first MotoGP rider ever to win on three different manufacturers — Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia — in the MotoGP era.
On 13 June 2024 it was announced that Viñales would join Red Bull KTM Tech3 for 2025 alongside Enea Bastianini. At the Qatar Grand Prix he briefly led the race, making him the first rider to lead a race with four different manufacturers, though a tyre pressure penalty dropped him from second on the road to fourteenth. During qualifying for the German Grand Prix he suffered a severe crash that caused a dislocated left shoulder, a fracture, and a torn supraspinatus ligament; he underwent surgery in Italy on 13 July 2025 and missed the Czech, Austrian, and Hungarian rounds.
Viñales was named Maverick because his father was a fan of Top Gun. His cousin Isaac Viñales is also a motorcycle racer, having competed in the 125cc, Moto3, and Moto2 World Championships, and as of 2023 rides in World Superbike for Kawasaki. Another cousin, Dean Berta Viñales, also raced motorcycles; he died aged 15 on 25 September 2021 after a collision during a Supersport 300 race at Jerez.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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