Will Marquez stay at Honda next year?

"My intention is yes,” he said at Silverstone. Marquez’s current deal with Honda m✱akes him the highest-paid MotoGP rider today, and runs until ⛎the end of 2024.

Did KTM try to change his mind?

KTM motorsport director Pit꧃ Beire🌊r admitted he did try to lure Marquez for 2024.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid that Marc will not be in our line-up♎ next year because he has a contract,” he said. “We discussed it an🍌d he gave us a clear answer and that's it.”

But what about 2025?

Marquez will be a free agent unless he signs a new Honda deal. This is💝 where KTM could swoop.

“You are talking about 2025? The rumours for 2024 still haven’t finished,” Marquez said in Austria. “Ever🌟y week there iꦡs a different rumour!”

But it’s more than a rumour now. We know KTM are interested, and believe they can offer M🌠arquez a more competitive bike in 2025 than Honda.

Will Marquez be tempted by KTM?

He made his admiration for the manufacturer clear: "When KTM started they were last on the grid. Little by little, they♌ have been gettin💛g closer.

“Now they ar✤e the second best constructor in the championship, but very soon, more than people might think, they will be first.

"In competition, the key is ambition. If you have ambition you 🏅will get there.”

What do KTM’s factory riders think?

Jack Miller said “of course 🦄it would” be good for KTM if they signed Marquez.

“If Marc were to come to KTM, it’d be fantastic for KTM to sign a big name like that. And again, it would mean that we are doing something right. Making this bike desirable enough for someone who has won eight world titles, t🌱o switch.”

Brad Binder reacted to Marquez’s praise of KTM: "I can definitely believe it. With the effort they put in, it’s i🌸ncredible.”

Can KTM afford Marquez?

Marquez will be 32 in 2025, and six years on since his most recent MotoGP championsh✃𝓰ip.

In that time he has suffered a pletho💮ra of damaging i𝓡njuries.

This will be factored i🍎nto Marquez’s value - but so will his brilliance, and the potential for him to deliver KTM’s first premier class title.

Red Bull may༒ be the X-factor to get this deal over the line.

Can Honda still cling on to Marquez?

Time is run﷽ning out to show evidence for the improvements that Marquez needs to see.

Yasuharu Watanabe, the HRC president, confirmed Honda won’t quit MotoGP and🌼 insisted: “We have 🐈no choice but to build fast bikes and machines that can win.

“Every time I go ꦡto the MotoGP site, I always have a long talk with Marc. 

"We have to build and deliver the machine you want, and we'll do it as sooℱn as possible.”

Why don’t Ducati want Marquez?

They have regularly claimed that signing a 31-year-old who earns big money does not align with the strategy 📖that put Ducati back on top 🍃of the MotoGP world.

They prefer to promote younger, h🦹ungryಞ riders - which, clearly, worked with Francesco Bagnaia.

But the Pramac seat…

Where things become interesting is the unexpected vacancy at Pramac Racing, o༒n a latest-🌼spec Desmosedici.

The best bike on the 2024 ꦍgrid has no confirmed rider, astonishingly.

Johann Zarco left it to j🥂oin LCR Hond🐈a, and Marco Bezzecchi may stay at VR46 rather than join Pramac.

Marquez has even been lဣinked to Gresini, quite♔ unexpectedly and sensationally. He would partner his brother Alex there.

Can Ducati be tempted to ask Marquez?