With the announcement today, riders confirmed so far. Monster Energy Yamaha : Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli Ducati Lenovo : Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini Repsol Honda : Marc Marquez and Joan Mir Aprilia Racing : Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales Red Bull KTM : Brad Binder and Jack Miller Gresini Racing : Fabio De Giannantonio and Alex Marquez Pramac Racing : Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin With U RNF : Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez LCR Honda : Alex Rins + A N Other GASGAS Factory team : Pol Espargaro + A N Other and finally, Mooney VR46 : TBA Andy
I think it's just one seat that has a question mark. VR46 I suspect will remain unchanged and Nakagami will get a final year I think. Just the GasGas seat
I am amazed Franco Morbidelli keeps his ride at Yamaha 19th in the table with 26 points and they didn't grab Rins, Mir or Miller.
I'm also amazed Franco has kept the ride, I'm not sure he's done anything has he? has he even podium'd in MotoGP? Marini will keep his ride, his brothers the boss and I think he's been solid, personally I think Digi has been lucky to keep the ride. I think Nakagami will keep the LCR ride also, although he's made a few negative comments more recently around not being given things or told things that is unlike him.
In MotoGP, 3 races in 2020 and a podium in 2021 with Petronas SRT but not since joining the factory team part way through 2021. Andy
I know its been discussed a gazillion times but bloody hell Yamaha not giving that second bike to Toprak is an absolute crime against motorcycle racing and they deserve to get their backsides well and truly slapped next year.
The irony is, one of their riders will win the championship and the other one will barely be in the top twenty. This is what you do if you are not bothered by Ducati winning manufacturers titles.
Be funny if Honda actually bring a competitive bike to the grid next year and they find themselves behind them ducati aprilia and potentially ktm (who were led to believe have some saucy new parts/upgrades coming up). They'll need to "find something" over winter but then they were supposed to do that last winter lol.
He was 2nd in the 2020 world championship let's not forget that. I think his knee injury from a year ago now is the issue. If he cannot get decent points in 2023 he'll be without a ride.
Sponsorship, Toprak is a Red Bull sponsored rider and apparently his contract is so lucrative he'd be taking a pay cut to ditch RB and go to Monster Energy.
To put it into perspective how bad the Honda is currently Marc's been out for how many races? But he is still ahead of all of the other Honda riders in the championship. The bike is crap and there's only one rider who can mask the problems, will he be the same Marc, will he take the same risks, will he be as competitive? Only he knows... I saw yesterday that both him and Alex have parted ways with their long time manager, when the going starts to get rough they all seem to change everyone around them rather than admit the issue is with themselves IMO.
Could there be any truth in the present Honda being exclusively designed around his needs, to the point where no one else can ride it and get points?
If this is the case, I've lost all respect for him. I realise that they have a short career and want to maximise their earnings, but he either wants a crack at MotoGP on a good bike or he doesn't.. If he doesn't and wants to keep the red bull money then fine, but don't act like a wounded puppy over it if indeed it's his bank balance that's got in the way. I bet the 'offer' would still have been 2-4 million to ride the factory bike in MotoGP, I could probably live on that. Personally, I think his style won't suit a MotoGP bike, he's too tail in the air for those super complex bikes, he would need to adapt, that said the Michelin tyres probably would have allowed him to maximise his braking skill perhaps and maybe the chassis wouldn't be prone to so much rear lift, who knows... He would have been awesome in the Bridgestone era though, when the front tyre was famous for loving the abuse.
It definitely was the case when they had Marquez winning and someone like Cal regularly on or near the box, because their next best riders were still in that top 6. For the last 2 years, the only screen time the bikes have been getting is when Marquez junior has thrown it at the scenery and he's dusting himself off. Incidentally, I really want to see Alex Marquez succeed on the Ducati, he's had to work much harder than Marc, with probably less natural ability and more pressure, and he was carrying Honda for a few races middle of 2020. I'd like to see him back to top 6 pace on the Ducati.
