The eight-time world champion has scored just 15 points in the opening nine rounds of a torrid 2023 campaign for Honda, with rumours continuing to swirl about a potential early exit from HRC for 2024.
While he stated at the British Grand Prix that “my intention” is to honour his current contract with Honda, which expires at the end of 2024, uncertainty remains as links to KTM persist.
KTM, however, has so far been unable to expand its presence on the grid for 2024 and is currently facing a logjam to place Pedro Acosta into its stable with five riders under contract for four bikes.
Should Marquez ultimately stay at Honda for 2024, his future with HRC will ultimately hinge on whether it can deliver him a prototype of next year’s bike at the post-race Misano test in September that is genuinely competitive.
With 2025 factory deals likely to be signed very early, as has been the case for a number of years, Marquez insists there is “no rush” to make his decision.
“The rumours of 2024 are still not finished,” he said on Thursday at the Austrian GP.
“Every week is a different rumour, so don’t start with 2025! Joking aside, of course, in Misano the new bike will arrive and we will continue to work.
“But [there’s] no rush for the future. It’s important to understand the level of the bikes, my level, because always I’m pushing myself.
“But still in this second half of the season in 2023 I need to work on myself and improve my level, to try to avoid these mistakes in the first part. Then we will talk about the future.”
In a recent interview with Servus TV, Marquez heaped praise on the job KTM is doing in MotoGP and said its method – as well as that of rival European manufacturers – is what Honda should “copy”.
“I mean, in the end all manufacturers have the same ambitions and all manufacturers try to find the best [solutions],” he said when asked about his KTM comments.
“But in the last years it looks like the European manufacturers were faster on the development steps of the bike and this is the main difference.
“Why? I’m not an engineer, I’m not inside the factory to understand why. But it’s true that KTM has an aggressive mode in the way to choose engineers, to find the best for the project.
“They have the ‘European style’: if the left side is the best, they go to the left.
“If the right side is the best, they go to the right. I have good words for KTM, but not because I pretend.
“If one rider is fast and is doing a good job, you say. And when one manufacturer is doing a good job, you must say.
“The evolution of KTM in these last years was good, also Ducati in the past and Aprilia.
“So, we need to focus on ourselves and in our box to understand what they did better and try to copy, or even improve.”
