Marco Bezzecchi
Carlo Pernat has heard that Marc Marquez asked Ducati to include a clause in his new contract for the 2027 MotoGP season that lets him retire without facing any penalties.
The 33-year-old’s future with the Borgo Panigale crew has been a big topic of conversation so far in 2026, as he is on paper set to be a free agent at the end of the season. Marquez put pen to only a two-year contract to step up into the factory Ducati team from Gresini in 2025.
It is widely said that Marquez has already agreed to sign a new Ducati contract for 2027 and 2028, though, after thrashing out the terms for his continuation. Ducati will not confirm the Spaniard’s deal until the MotoGP constructors sign a new collective commercial agreement.
Part of the sticking point in negotiations was believed to be Marquez’s desire for a 1+1-year contract to stay at Ducati. It would give Marquez an option to leave at the end of 2027 if he cannot battle for race wins and the title or the Bologna Bullets flop with the 850cc engines.
Should Marc Marquez try to return at the Italian Grand Prix?
Carlo Pernat has heard that Marc Marquez asked Ducati not to punish him if he retires in 2026
Pernat now suggests that Marquez even asked Ducati to include an option in his contract for 2027 that will also let him retire from MotoGP at the end of 2026 without facing any type of consequences, should he wish. He even suspects that Ducati are planning for the possibility.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez’s first MotoGP title with Ducati was defined by five moments
With the threat of Marquez walking away from MotoGP, following yet another lay-off due to an injury, hanging over Ducati, Pernat suspects that the Bologna Bullets might delay placing Nicolo Bulega at VR46 for 2027 – which may see Honda’s Luca Marini re-join VR46 instead.
Pernat told MOW: “Well, they might bring Marini back, right? Bulega isn’t necessarily going.
“In fact, I think Marini is more likely to go [to VR46] than Bulega – even though Nicolo absolutely deserves a MotoGP ride. But Ducati might have considered him as a wildcard, especially since Marc Marquez is a huge question mark.
“I wish I could be in his head. I think Marc is seriously starting to think about saying enough. Also, because of the myriad commitments, and not having a second to breathe. Guys, this guy’s seen hell, burned through everything there was to burn and managed to fly to heaven.
“Then that thing with [Marco] Bezzecchi happened, which he had nothing to do with it, and it also destroyed him mentally. He’d been sidelined, now he’s been sidelined again with surgery. And damn it, it’s only natural to wonder if it’s time to quit.
“In his two-year contract with Ducati, he apparently specifically asked for zero penalties if he were to decide to quit. He’ll want to try because he knows that with the new regulations, the rider will count more, and he’s still the strongest of all.
“But if he realises that he can’t fight to win, I think he’ll say enough. If he goes on like this, he might get so p—– off that he’ll tire before he even tries. Even on Sunday, seeing your brother smashing into the wall like that definitely makes you think a little more.”
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Bezzecchi took Marquez out on the opening lap of the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix, and the Ducati rider’s trip through Mandalika’s brutal gravel trap resulted in the seven-time MotoGP champion needing surgery on a coracoid fracture and ligament damage in his right shoulder.
The crash also bent two screws in Marquez’s shoulder from his Latarjet surgery in 2019, and it has required yet another operation. Marquez hid the discomfort in his right shoulder from Ducati, but his crash in the Le Mans Sprint saw him bring forward a pre-planned operation.
Marquez brought forward the surgery he had secretly planned for his shoulder for after the Catalan GP due to needing an operation after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his foot from his highside in the Sprint at Le Mans. Now, Ducati face an unclear wait for his latest return.
While team manager Davide Tardozzi says Marquez’s shoulder and foot surgeries went well, Ducati are not currently sure whether he will return for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello on May 29-31. Alex Marquez will not be racing at Mugello after his crash during the Catalan GP.
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