What Marquez would have to give up to sign for the factory Ducati MotoGP team

When the first rumours surrounding Marquez’s possible arrival to the factory Ducati team next season began to surface, the thesis of Red Bull’s sponsorship quickly emerged as an insurmountable barrier to the success of the operation.

Marquez relied on his private sponsors, most notably Red Bull, when he decided to forgo the money that would have come with the final year of his Honda contract in order to join Gresini in 2024 to ride a year-old Ducati.

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The move, which some described as brave and others as reckless, also meant leaving behind a factory structure to join a satellite formation, in exchange for competing with the prototype with which Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin battled for the 2023 title with.

The sacrifice for Marquez, at least financially, was enormous, but the Spaniard is starting to receive the first rewards: “I’m having more and more fun riding and the results are starting to come,” he explained at the French Grand Prix, where he came from 13th on the grid to finish second in both races at Le Mans.

At 31 years of age, Marquez sees on his horizon the real possibility of becoming an official Ducati rider, riding the most competitive bike at the moment and, in his opinion, the one that offers him the best guarantee of being able to become champion for the seventh time in the premier class.

However, this new step in the roadmap he has drawn in his head puts him at another crossroads that requires him to make a new decision. And, once again, the economic aspect plays a determining role in the path he takes.

If we take into account the global agreement in force between Ducati and Monster Energy, which expires at the end of 2025, Marquez would have to end his link the most loyal ally he has had in his career in Red Bull.

“Hopefully we’ll get to that point. At that point, everything can be talked about,” agreed Marquez in a recent interview with Autosport on the subject.

The answer was as formal as it was ambiguous, given that the incompatibility is obvious if we are talking about a coexistence between two brands in direct competition.

At Le Mans, last weekend, he was insisted on the subject, and this time he left less doubts: “In life, sometimes you have to make decisions that you don’t like or don’t want to have to make. We are all here to win, and for that we have…