The platform turns: look at the market of drivers / MotoGP

Only three of the 21 GP weekends have been completed, but the driver carousel for 2025 is already turning strongly. Latest developments: Fabio Quartararos (Yamaha factory team) to extend the contract until the end of 2026 and Moto2 rider Fermin Aldeguer’s commitment to Ducati (probably Pramac Ducati).

Brad Binder at KTM for 2026 and Pecco Bagnaia at the Ducati factory team are also contracted until the end of 2026. At Honda, Luca Marini at the factory team and Johann Zarco at LCR Honda are contracted until the end of the 2025 season.

However, many contracts expiring at the end of the 2024 season are causing speculation. Perhaps the most coveted MotoGP venue is the sidelines of Bagnaia in the Ducati factory team. Enea Bastianini will try to defend his seat, but with World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) the competition comes from his own stable. The Spaniard has now made it clear several times that he only wants to compete for a factory team from 2025. Whether he succeeds in this on the Desmosedici or on other makes remains to be seen.

Marc Márquez, who continues to adapt to GP23, is also a candidate for the Ducati factory seat. For Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, however, it is still unclear which manufacturer the VR46 team will rely on next year. And the future is also currently uncertain for Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) and Alex Márquez (Gresini Ducati).

Meanwhile, Aprilia is dealing with the question of whether 34-year-old Aleix Espargaró will hang up his helmet at the end of the season. Austin winner Maverick Viñales, on the other hand, is already set for 2025. What the future of Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández will be at the Trackhouse Racing Team is still very open.

In KTM there will be a place next to Brad Binder in the factory team at the end of the year, for which Jack Miller and the singer Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) will fight. Augusto Fernandez’s whereabouts in GASGAS Tech3 is also yet to be decided.

At Yamaha, Alex Rins was given a one-year contract until 2024. The Iwata factory is now aiming to field a customer team with the YZR-M1 again, with VR46 and Pramac Racing as prospects.

At Honda, the positions of Joan Mir and Takaaki Nakagami will be open at the end of the season, although they are probably among the least popular on the MotoGP pad.

MotoGP 2025 grid overview:

Red Bull KTM (Brad Binder, ?)
Ducati Lenovo (Pecco Bagnaia, ?)
Monster Yamaha (Fabio Quartararo, ?)
Aprilia Racing (Maverick Viñales, ?)
Repsol Honda (Luca Marini, ?)
Tech3-GASGAS (?, ?)
Prima Pramac Ducati (vs. Fermin Aldeguer, ?)
Trackhouse Aprilia (?, ?)
VR46 Ducati (?,?)
Gresini Racing Ducati (?,?)
LCR Honda (Johann Zarco,?)