With talks of Pramac looking towards Yamaha for a satellite role, Ducati could also end up losing two of these three riders to rival manufacturers. 

Last month, Aprilia tried to poach Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo for a factory role until the Frenchman decided to stay put with his Yamaha team till 2026 when he got shown the dollar signs. But Aprilia has further options, thanks to its very quick and nimble RSGP, which looks to be well-placed to fight for the title next year.

Ducati would surely not want to lose one of its top riders to Aprilia and it has to make the perfect decision to make sure that what they lose from this decision won’t actually come back to bite them later. So here are my criteria upon which each rider should be judged for next year’s Ducati seat.

1- Speed and performance

2- Brand awareness and sponsorships

3- Team cohesiveness and compatibility

4- Partnership longevity

5- Strategic impact

1- Speed and recent performance:

a) Enea Bastianini 

Score: 6.5 out of 10

Despite having a competitive year so far and sitting third in the championship right behind reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini is in need for an urgent highlight-worthy performance in 2024.

The man from Rimini is the only reason why Ducati are facing such issues. After an injury-ridden 2023 and struggling to adapt to the nature of last year’s Ducati, Bastianini enters 2024 with a renewed confidence; however, it’s safe to say that he has remained largely overshadowed by his arch-nemesis Jorge Martin, who has beaten him in six out of the eight races so far, including the Sprints (would’ve been ⅞, had Martin not crashed from the lead in Jerez).

Furthermore, it’s also the glaring lack of ‘top Ducati’ results that makes his case difficult compared to Martin and Marquez, both of whom finished as the top Ducati thrice and twice respectively out of eight attempts whereas Enea only managed to get a top Ducati result once at the American Grand Prix race.

Now, compared to Marquez at least, Bastianini sits great in third place in the championship standings compared to sixth place for the Spaniard. However, it would be wrong to just look at things in black and white, as Marquez is new to riding a Ducati, and also he is riding last year’s machinery compared to the latest machinery that Bastianini is riding. 

Furthermore,, Marquez has also crashed three times to one against Bastianini in the eight races so far and in two of those attempts, he was clearly higher up the grid compared to Bastianini. Another stat that could probably kill the case for Bastianini is the fact that the Italian is yet to finish ahead of Marquez in the races where both have finished.  

b) Marc Marquez

Score: 8 out of 10

Coming out of a four-year drought with Honda, Marc Marquez may be sixth in the championship standings, but based on a simple ‘eye test,’ his pace has been similar to the top guys at Ducati with just one twist – he is riding a year-old Ducati!

And he has only ridden the Desmosedici in only four rounds! Meaning he is still yet to find his true potential with the new bike and so far no other GP23s have an answer to #93.

Compared to Bastianini, as mentioned before, Marquez has shown to be the faster rider on pace, but compared to Martin, its neck and neck. So far the Spaniard has beaten Martin three times in eight attempts and in races where they have both finished, Marquez and Martin are 2-2 each.

However, the later stat isn’t exactly useful as Martin had some of his best performances in races where Marquez tumbled like in Portimao race and the Jerez Sprint race. Hence why I have given eight points to Marquez based on speed alone and given a slight edge to Martin.

c) Jorge Martin

Score: 10 out of 10

If there is one rider who has made the least number of mistakes this season, whilst at the same time showing the most speed, it has to be Jorge Martin. 

Jorge Martin’s only mistake this season has to be the mistake in Jerez when he crashed his Ducati from the lead, without which he could have entered Le mans with a 47-point lead! 

Furthermore, just like Marquez against his fellow GP23s, Martin has been the class of the GP24s so far. Based on pace, Bagnaia only bested Martin twice this year out of eight attempts and Bastianini only bested Martin once. All of this makes the case against Martin extremely hard.

Not to mention, based on recent history, Martin also contested for last year’s world championship in a tooth-and-nail battle with Francesco Bagnaia, making him a reliable rider who promises to bring his ‘A’ game till the final round.

Hence the full ten points for Martin in terms of speed and recent performances.

2- Brand Awareness and Sponsorships:

MotoGP riders aren’t just meant to be result-making machines. They are also strong ambassadors to the brands they are affiliated with. With strong promotion skills and the ability to engage with more fans, Ducati will be able to generate more sales.

And in this department, there is a clear winner in Marc Marquez. The Spaniard’s long history with the sport, winning eight world championships and amassing a huge horde of fans and following, will also be something Ducati will be looking to take advantage of. 

Including Marquez in the factory lineup also means a marriage between Spanish and Italian marketplaces, thus allowing increased sponsorship opportunities from Spanish brands like Estrella Galicia, for example.

Furthermore, Audi is a common sponsor for both Marquez and Ducati, which will also make Marquez a superb option for Ducati based on their ties to Audi Sport.

So based on brand awareness and contribution, no one will bring more eyes to Ducati than Marquez, hence he will get the full ten points.

Unfortunately, Bastianini and Martin don’t have the same prestige and noise that Marquez has, and both will score equally low in this department. 

In Bestia’s case, it would’ve been cool to have a home crowd in your favor since he is an Italian, riding an Italian machine, but unfortunately for Bastianini that market might’ve been filled by Bagnaia already.

So the score for Brand awareness and sponsorship is as follows:

Enea Bastianini: 5 out of 10

Marc Marquez: 10 out of 10

Jorge Martin: 5 out of 10 

3- Team cohesiveness and compatibility

This is a key point which will define Ducati’s longevity as a front-runner in MotoGP. Ducati must single out a rider that is easier to work with and complements Ducati’s approach towards its bike development.

a) Enea Bastianini:

Score: 7.5 out of 10

In terms of cohesiveness, Bastianini and Bagnaia have been a solid duo in their little time spent together. The two have rarely found themselves in difficult circumstances where the team had to intervene. 

However, based on compatibility, Bastianini has a style that is well adapted to the strengths of the Ducati; however, it wasn’t long ago when Bastianini found himself struggling to get into grips with the Desmosedici GP23 and was often shadowed by Ducati stablemates Bagnaia and Martin. 

Even with the new GP24, it looks like his chief rival Jorge Martin has taken to the GP24 much better than the Italian. Hence why, Enea gets 7 points out of 10.

b) Marc Marquez

Score: 6 out of 10

Bringing a titan like Marquez to the team won’t exactly put the Ducati bosses in the good books of Francesco Bagnaia who Ducati have built to be their number one guy in the championship. 

Furthermore, Marquez’s signing with Ducati would ultimately mean more eyes on Marquez and more interest from the fans and sponsors alike, which would take the spotlight from Bagnaia. This will be a similar moment to when Valentino Rossi rejoined Yamaha back in 2013 to partner Jorge Lorenzo who was at that point the number one rider in the team.

Just a year or so later, it was Rossi who gathered all the spotlight from the media and fans alike, despite Lorenzo winning a world championship for them!

Bagnaia will face a similar situation: Either accept Marquez’s position of high influence or move to another team like Lorenzo did in 2016.

But based on their compatibility with each other, Marquez has a very adaptable riding style, which allowed him to adapt to the Desmosedici in no time, so compatibility shouldn’t be much of an issue if Bagnaia is the rider around whom the bike is developed. 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said vice versa, as there is a huge history of riders who where unable to adapt to bikes that were built around Marc Marquez. 

c) Jorge Martin

Score: 9 out of 10

Despite an extreme style of riding compared to Bagnaia, Jorge Martin has developed a riding style which has similar strengths and weaknesses to Pecco.

Over the years, both riders have given similar feedback for the development of the Desmosedici machine, which has allowed them to compete with each other on a similar level. This makes compatibility a non-issue for Ducati.

Ducati may face a difficult task of managing the rivalry between the two riders, however, the competition between the two will be on equal terms, which is the best-case scenario for Ducati.

This highly competitive lineup with similar feedback is exactly what will give Ducati the direction to be competitive for a longer period similar to the partnership that Rossi and Lorenzo had back in the day – two riders with similar strengths and weaknesses who pushed for the same feedback, which allowed Yamaha to fight at the front for a long period of time and amass four world championships in the process.

4- Partnership longevity:

The second seat at Ducati has often been treated as a hot potato, with Ducati replacing riders every two years. With this partnership Ducati should at least try to look beyond just two years. 

Now this is an age-oriented metric, so Martin and Bastianini will both acquire full points as they are both 26 years old, with Marquez being five years older at 31. 

If we assume that a rider can stay competitive till the age of 35, then both Martin and Bastianini will have nine years each, with Marquez left with four years. 

Of course, this metric isn’t exactly the best one to use, as most riders usually finish their careers well before reaching 35 and Marquez isn’t like everyone else, so this metric will only have a weightage of five points.

Enea Bastianini: 5 out of 5

Marc Marquez: 3 out of 5

Jorge Martin: 5 out of 5

5- Strategic impact:

There is a high chance that Ducati may lose two of the three riders if Pramac Racing leaves and if it decides to stay, then only one rider may leave. The main question based on strategic impact should be: which rider can Ducati afford to lose? 

Of course, Ducati wouldn’t want to concede their best riders to their rival manufacturers, so in this category,, Ducati will have to devise a strong gameplan to at least attain two of their top riders for 2025. 

Based on the four metrics discussed before, the score tally goes with Jorge Martin at the top with 29 points, Marc Marquez in second place with 27 points and Enea Bastianini rounding up with 24 points. So it should be Ducati’s priority to retain both Martin and Marquez going into 2024, as losing anyone of them could come back to bite them.

If it comes down to who Ducati should choose between Martin or Marquez then the situation gets complicated.

Losing a long-term prospect like Jorge Martin in his prime would be a grave mistake from Ducati, as a high caliber championship level rider like Martin would be easy pickings for competitors like Aprilia who are looking for the right rider to boost their championship challenge.

Losing Marc Marquez to rivals would also cause similar problems for Ducati. Strategically, Marquez isn’t going to be competing for much longer; hence, it may seem somewhat easier to limit the damage. But Ducati will lose out on some amazing brand promotion and sponsorship opportunities, so it is important that they find a way to keep Marquez under their wings. 

Ultimately, it comes down to which stance Ducati values more: A principled stance of choosing a rider whom Ducati built themselves in-house and sees as their long-term future, then the answer should be Jorge Martin. If it is more for boosting Ducati’s brand and achieving possible sponsorship goals, then the answer can be Marc Marquez.

But unfortunately, with too many riders under the wing for Ducati, it looks like Enea Bastianini may not