Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez is expected to sign a new contract with the Ducati factory team in the coming months. Marquez romped to the title in his first year racing in red.
While Aprilia have closed the gap to Ducati, Marquez and the Borgo Panigale outfit remain the overwhelming favourites for the 2026 crown.
The regulations are changing for 2027, so one imagines Marquez would only leave if he had concerns about Ducati’s medium to long-term prospects.
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However, recent reports suggest Marquez will sign a new two-year deal in the spring to underline his enduring faith in Luigi Dall’Igna’s project.
Ducati’s only ‘leverage’ over Marc Marquez concerns media days
Marquez’s base salary at Ducati was £2.6m, lower than some of his MotoGP rivals. Bonuses took his total earnings past the £6m mark, but he would still be entitled to demand a pay rise.
However, Marquez, who has personal sponsorship deals with brands like Insta360, Estrella Galicia and Audi, has repeatedly stressed that winning is his primary motivation at this stage of his career.
Speaking on the Paddock Pass podcast recently, journalist David Emmett suggested that the only point of contention between Marquez and Ducati would concern his media commitments.
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“A lot of people are going to be chasing Pedro Acosta,” Emmett said. “The reason it’s going to take a little bit longer with Pedro Acosta is because he can choose.
“Ducati and Marc Marquez – it’s very straightforward. Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia is the same.
“Marc Marquez isn’t going to leave Ducati because if he leaves Ducati, he loses a year and he doesn’t have that many years left to win championships.
“He’s staying where he is. I think that deal is going to be fairly simple to put together.
“They’ll be arguing mostly about how many media days he has to do, because that’s the only real leverage that Ducati has.”
Honda have two big-name alternatives to Marc Marquez in mind
Veteran MotoGP manager Carlo Pernat ‘knows for a fact’ that Honda staff have spoken to Marquez about returning.
Former crew chief Santi Hernandez says Marquez would be ‘welcome’ back at Honda, where he won six world championships between 2013 and 2023.
But amid growing signals that Marquez will stay at Ducati rather than making the romantic move, Honda will have to pivot to other big-name targets.
A report in the autumn claimed that Honda would triple Acosta’s salary if that’s what was required to lure him away from KTM.
What’s more, Honda remain interested in Jorge Martin after their high-profile swoop for 2026 failed. Marquez sits at the centre of the market, so the 2027 grid will only start to take shape once he’s locked in.
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