With exactly one month to go until the end of the 2023 season, the Repsol Honda team is the only one on the MotoGP grid that has not completed its line-up of riders for next year.
This is an absolutely anomalous situation, but one that the Japanese manufacturer has been forced into as a result of Marquez electing to leave a year early and join Gresini Ducati in 2024.
The eight-time world champion began to show signs that he could leave before the end of his contract some time ago and, discreetly, Honda began to look for a possible replacement, always under a non-negotiable parameter: the agreement was only going to be for one year.
The idea of HRC bosses is to have their hands free for the 2025 market, when the vast majority of the grid - all except Brad Binder - finish the contracts that bind them to their current teams.
That condition has reduced Honda's options, as the majority of potential candidates asked to go beyond 2024 aside from the usual economic stipulations.
Honda's first target was Miguel Oliveira. The Portuguese rider competes in the RNF team, but his agreement is with Aprilia, and expires at the end of 2024.
Oliveira would be willing to sit down with the Noale firm to try to agree on an amicable exit, as long as Honda assured him of a lasting relationship.
Source: Autosport