Marc Marquez must decide - here are the options to re-ignite his MotoGP career

After another injury-wrecked season, and no sign of Honda turning around its struggling MotoGP project, what will Marc Marquez do next?

MotoGP desk_1

01 Jul 2023

Marc Marquez, MotoGP sprint race, Dutch MotoGP, 24 June

By the end of this year, it’ll be four seasons since Marquez last won the title, in 2019.

To put that into perspective, no rider in premier-class history has won another title after a gap of more than three seasons since they were previously champion.

Valentino Rossi famously came close in 2015 but the official longest gap between titles is by Casey Stoner, who waited three seasons with his 2007 and 2011 world championships.

The catalyst for Stoner’s return to the top was a change of team, from Ducati to Honda. Might Marc Marquez need to mimic that tactic, in reverse?

Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig said that, while he expects Marquez to remain with Honda in 2024 and serve the final season of his existing contract, “every person is free to do what he wants in life, and Honda is not a company that wants to have people that are not happy being in Honda.”

Those words turned heads, but it’s the same philosophy Puig adopted when Jorge Lorenzo opted to retire after the first year of his two-year Repsol Honda deal (and went on to sign as a Yamaha test rider): Contract or not, there’s no point forcing an unhappy rider to race. KTM came to the same conclusion with Johann Zarco.

But existing contracts at rival factory teams mean, unless Marquez is prepared to join a satellite outfit next year, a very unlikely move, he’ll still be on a Honda in 2024.

Honda’s hopes of retaining Marquez for 2025 will then depend heavily on the prototype expected at September’s Misano’s test, plus the rumoured possibility of the technical concessions system being tweaked to allow Honda and Yamaha more testing time.

If Ken Kawauchi can make real progress with the RCV, the obvious solution would be for Marquez to remain loyal to the factory he has spent his entire MotoGP career with, winning six titles and 59 races.

But if Marquez does decide he can’t wait for HRC any longer, where might he go for 2025 when all factory team seats are up for grabs?

Ducati has gone on record as saying it doesn’t need Marc Marquez, which is factually correct; they won last year’s title with Francesco Bagnaia and have the top three riders in this year’s standings.

But ‘need’ is very different to ‘want’ or even ‘would sign if offered’. Nonetheless, with Ducati overflowing with fast young talent, the most 'logical' move for Marquez would be KTM, where Marquez began his grand prix career in the 125cc class and already has a mutual commercial connection in Red Bull.

KTM has emerged as the closest challenger to Ducati this season, but the notoriously ambitious Austrians are unlikely to be satisfied with anything less than the MotoGP title. They have also shown no hesitation in signing rival riders, mechanics, engineers or team management that can help in that quest.

When Jack Miller arrived this season, much was made of the Australian's KTM 'heritage', having previously raced for 'Red Bull KTM Ajo' in Moto3 in 2014. Marquez has similar links, spending his debut 125GP season on a 'Repsol KTM' in 2008 before racing for 'Red Bull KTM' in 2009. Marquez then won the 2010 title for 'Red Bull Ajo' (Derbi).

Some might say KTM has more to lose by signing Marquez since if he didn’t win, it would be seen as the bike’s fault. In other words, the Ducati-Valentino Rossi disaster.

But that perception only holds true if, as with Rossi and Ducati, Marquez was the top-performing rider.

If Marquez moved to KTM and struggled but other RC16 riders (such as Brad Binder, Jack Miller or Pedro Acosta) were winning races, the spotlight of failure would be on Marquez personally, not KTM. And if Red Bull was willing to bankroll a Marquez deal, would KTM really say no to their long-time sponsor?

Ultimately, money is unlikely to be the deciding factor at this stage of Marquez’s career, but a tougher question would be how many of Marquez’s close-knit mechanics he could take with him in any move - and if he would even leave Honda without them.

Either way, Marquez says he won't rush his decision.

“I'm in a very deep moment and I cannot think about [the future now],” the Spaniard said after withdrawing due to pain from his rib fracture at Assen. "You cannot decide your future when you are in this condition.

"Now I need to rebuild my body and mental side during this month and a half [summer break]."

Marquez hasn't won a MotoGP race since Misano 2021.