A transfer market still waiting for the formal nod
The MotoGP paddock is already gearing up for the 2027 rules shake-up. Official announcements, though, are still stuck in neutral. The manufacturers are waiting. The new commercial deal with MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group, the outfit replacing Dorna Sports, has to be signed off first. Bureaucracy first. Racing later.
Álex Márquez is part of that wider reset. He’s on his way out of Gresini. His switch to the factory KTM squad for 2027 is already done and dusted. Bit of a twist, really, because it comes during his first season as a Ducati factory rider. And he earned that step up the hard way: three wins and a runner-up finish in the world championship last year.
Technical urgency means he stays plugged in
The pecking order has shifted. Aprilia has looked the sharper bike at the start of this season. Ducati, by contrast, has been playing catch-up. That development headache is exactly why Márquez is still being kept in the loop on the research programme.
Same story with Francesco Bagnaia. The man bound for Aprilia still has full access to Ducati’s development data. Borgo Panigale can’t really afford to shut the door on useful feedback like that. Márquez’s contract is aimed squarely at helping shape the 2026 prototype right now, not some distant future fantasy.
The 2027 regulatory and industrial roadblocks
There will, naturally, be strict limits on riders who are out of contract by then. They’ll be barred from getting anywhere near the 2027-spec prototype. The test sessions lined up in Brno in June, then at the Red Bull Ring in September, will go ahead without them.
The danger of sensitive information leaking to rivals is pretty small, though. The new technical rules in 2027 will make the current bikes obsolete in a hurry. Any data gathered on the 2026 machine will be worth next to nothing to future employers. For now, Álex Márquez remains fully committed to Ducati until this season is over.
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