Lorenzo: Ducati will make a “low” offer for Marquez - he needs them to win
The Repsol Honda rider is contracted at the team which he has become synonymous with until the end of 2024 but his hunt for a seventh premier class title has hit a major early roadblock this season due to his absence through injury.
Now 30, and with a recent history littered by physical problems, Marquez also knows that the best machinery on the MotoGP grid is coming from the Ducati garage.
His former teammate at Honda, the three-time champion Lorenzo, told MOW about the huge contract Marquez is currently on: “When you're 2019 world champion and they offer you four years for €20m a year with a bike with which you know you can win other world championships, it's hard to say no.
“Especially if the other teams offer you five times less.
“I think he made the right choice at the time, but now he'll have to understand what suits him best: accept an offer from Honda, which will certainly be very high, or focus on a fairly low offer with Ducati.
“Ducati doesn't need him to win, while Marc needs them to do it again.
“This is why Ducati will aim downwards with him, offering nothing compared to the figures we were used to in the past.
“In Borgo Panigale, above all they make short contracts and with low figures, focusing heavily on bonuses.
“The ten, fifteen or twenty million they used to be are no longer seen.”
Alex Marquez, Marc’s brother, made the swap from LCR Honda to Gresini Ducati for this season.
But Ducati have been vocal in denying that they will ever target Marc.
Paolo Ciabatti, their sporting director, has said that Ducati prefer to nurture younger champions for the future.
Marquez was seen in his Amazon Prime Video documentary telling Honda that, unless they deliver him a bike capable of challenging for the title, he would find a solution elsewhere.
But since then, a crash on the opening weekend and the resultant hand surgery has meant Marquez has missed the past three rounds.
He hopes to be back in Le Mans, in two weeks, where the status of a double long lap penalty is yet to be resolved.
Either way, his championship hopes for 2023 are dwindling already meaning time is running out for Marquez to add to his six titles - and increasing the urgency for him to determine where his future lies.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
