Also in 2008, he competed at selected events in the German IDM 125GP Championship for RZT Racing aboard an Aprilia RS 125 R, achieving a best result of seventh.

[1] The single race for the 2010 European Championship title was also taking place at Viñales's winning circuit Albacete where he narrowly took his third victory of the year at the same venue.

After retiring at Jerez due to brake failure, Viñales finished fourth at Estoril, narrowly missing out on a podium to Johann Zarco in a photo-finish with the margin between the pair being 0.002 seconds.

[10][11] His victory, at the age of 16 years, 123 days, made him the third-youngest rider to win a Grand Prix race behind Scott Redding and Marco Melandri.

Going into Malaysia still with a slim chance of winning the title, he shocked fans and media when he angrily left his team and flew back home, withdrawing from the race.

[13] Viñales eventually apologized[14] and returned to the team for the final two races of the season, securing third in the standings, but losing the runner-up spot to Salom.

In later races he had several opportunities to win as he was leading the last laps at San Marino, Aragon and Philip Island, but on all occasions he was eventually overtaken by fellow Spanish rider Álex Rins.

He was starting to fade from the title fight with two races to go and only a slim chance left to win, but at Motegi both championship front runners Luis Salom and Alex Rins didn't score any points as both crashed out of the race, Salom being taken out by Viñales' cousin Isaac Viñales.

[19] Viñales became the first rider to move up to MotoGP after just one lone season in Moto2, even all-time greats like Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez spent two years in the intermediate category.

As it was the comeback year for the Japanese manufacturer, they received various concessions for development, and the bike underwent several changes during the season.

His strong start to the season continued with victory in Argentina, leading to many tipping Viñales as a championship contender.

[24] Viñales claimed the change was because he "felt that [he] needed to do something different" and had previously used the number 12 in motocross as a youth, since his birthday is 12 January.

At the fifth round in Styria, Viñales suffered a brake malfunction on the 17th lap, forcing him to leap from the bike at high speed at the end of the start-finish straight, leading to a fiery crash and a red flag of the race.

[26] He struggled in later races, scoring one win in Emilia Romagna but only managing one other top five finish in Aragon, before ending the season sixth overall in the championship standings.

Results in the following races were disappointing – while teammate Fabio Quartararo performed strongly to become a title favourite – culminating in the German Grand Prix where Viñales recorded his worst MotoGP weekend, qualifying 21st on the grid and finishing last of all classified riders.

The following day on June 28, 2021, Viñales made the shock announcement that he had terminated his contract with Yamaha and would leave the factory team after the 2021 season prematurely and not see out the full term until the end of 2022.

These irregularities led to his suspension by the team, as it was thought his actions could potentially have damaged the engine, putting himself and other riders at serious risk.

[43] Giacomo Agostini, Hideo Kanaya, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, John Kocinski, Luca Cadalora, Norifumi Abe, Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies, Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo 1949  N. Pagani 1950  B. Ruffo 1951  C. Ubbiali 1952  C. Sandford 1953  W. Haas 1954  R. Hollaus 1955  C. Ubbiali 1956  C. Ubbiali 1957  T. Provini 1958  C. Ubbiali 1959  C. Ubbiali 1960  C. Ubbiali 1961  T. Phillis 1962  L. Taveri 1963  H. Anderson 1964  L. Taveri 1965  H. Anderson 1966  L. Taveri 1967  B. Ivy 1968  P. Read 1969  D. Simmonds 1970  D. Braun 1971  Á. Nieto 1972  Á. Nieto 1973  K. Andersson 1974  K. Andersson 1975  P. Pileri 1976  P. Bianchi 1977  P. Bianchi 1978  E. Lazzarini 1979  Á. Nieto 1980  P. Bianchi 1981  Á. Nieto 1982  Á. Nieto 1983  Á. Nieto 1984  Á. Nieto 1985  F. Gresini 1986  L. Cadalora 1987  F. Gresini 1988  J. Martínez 1989  À. Crivillé 1990  L. Capirossi 1991  L. Capirossi 1992  A. Gramigni 1993  D. Raudies 1994  K. Sakata 1995  H. Aoki 1996  H. Aoki 1997  V. Rossi 1998  K. Sakata 1999  E. Alzamora 2000  R. Locatelli 2001  M. Poggiali 2002  A. Vincent 2003  D. Pedrosa 2004  A. Dovizioso 2005  T. Lüthi 2006  Á. Bautista 2007  G. Talmácsi 2008  M. Di Meglio 2009  J. Simón 2010  M. Márquez 2011  N. Terol 2012  S. Cortese 2013  M. Viñales 2014  Á. Márquez 2015  D. Kent 2016  B. Binder 2017  J. Mir 2018  J. Martín 2019  L. Dalla Porta 2020  A. Arenas 2021  P. Acosta 2022  I. Guevara 2023  J. Masià 2024  D. Alonso