Although the Spaniard has recently been speaking about his intention, or rather hope, to reveal where he will race in 2024 during this weekend's grand prix at Motegi, there is no certainty that by the end of the race on Sunday he will have been able to resolve the dispute he created for himself by wanting to leave Honda one season before the contract he signed at the beginning of 2020 expires.
Marquez landed in Japan on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to attend an event at Honda's engineering school in Tokyo. Given his sporting situation, one of his main objectives is to sit down with the manufacturer's executives, with whom he hopes to be able to agree on an amicable parting of ways.
That meeting will most likely not take place until the weekend at Motegi, where the top brass of Honda Motor, the parent company, is expected to be present. That top brass, led by Shiniji Aoyama - the two-wheeled division's most senior boss - will be at the circuit. Koji Watanabe, the president of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) - the constructor's racing arm - has always maintained that Honda would not prevent Marquez from leaving if that is what he wants.
"Obviously we would like him to continue. But, in the end, it's up to him to decide. If he wants to leave we won't hold him back," Watanabe said in recent media appearances.
Some say that Honda is unlikely to allow the rider who has won its last six MotoGP titles, and who has been its main attraction for the past decade, to be released without having to meet the cancellation clauses stipulated in the agreement between the two parties. However, unlike in other sports such as football, precedent suggests otherwise.
Source: Autosport