The collaboration between Red Bull and the team MotoGP Repsol Honda lasted 9 years, but, following rumors since November, everything suggests that the red bull could now be eyeing the dominant team of the moment, with the passage of Marc Marquez at Ducati.
The Red Bull logo appeared on the livery of official RC213Vs from 2015, two years after Marc Márquez made his debut in MotoGP and won the title in his rookie season before adding 5 more, including 4 with the energy drink colors on his fairing.
But it seems that the departure of Marc Marquez at Ducati, and probably also the current poor performance of Honda, leads the energy drink brand to question its future strategy, and numerous rumors have been reporting this since last November. We first talked about the end of the collaboration with the Repsol Honda team but, to date, nothing has been made official and the latest indications are rather contradictory.
On the one hand we would have been able to note, and in any case the Indonesian enthusiasts did so and it was reported on the site TMCblog from Taufik of BuitenZorg, that the official website of the Tokyo team no longer references Red Bull in its list of 2024 sponsors, unlike in previous years. It is a fact.
On the other hand, the first video of the 2024 season released by the team with an unrivaled track record presented us with a Luca marini dressed in a black and orange polo shirt highlighting the Honda, HRC, Repsol, Estrella Galicia and Michelin logos, relegating the very present Red Bull logo to a barely visible background. In a communication prepared with such care, nothing is usually left to chance, so this apparent contradiction is quite curious (we are not aware of a personal contract between Red Bull and Luca Marini which could explain this, and the name of the latter does not appear elsewhere in the list of 20 Grand Prix drivers referenced on the Red Bull website).
Last clue, the colors of the red bull were present on the Repsol Honda team's outfits during the first day of the 2024 season, that of the MotoGP test in Valencia. However, in these cases, we quickly hide an ex-sponsor with a piece of adhesive…
But ultimately, whether Red Bull stays with Honda or not is not the most interesting topic, compared to whether the red bull is going to end up overwhelmingly on the red Desmosedici of Ducati Corse. But here we enter the realm of speculation on a 2025-2026 transfer window which promises to be really very lively.
An example. Displayed or not (we can imagine for contractual reasons a “without” or partial year at Gresini), Marc Marquez takes with him Red Bull, in whole or in part, while aiming for a place as a Ducati factory rider in 2025. A priori, this does not seem possible since the Borgo Panigale firm currently has a (small) contract with the main competitor of the Austrian giant, Monster Energy.
So, is it stuck?
Yes, unless Monster Energy prefers to return to its roots, namely adorning the sides of Yamahas with Valentino Rossi. The VR46 would still have to abandon its high-performance Desmosedici to be seduced by the promises of a Lynn Jarvis at the end of his career. But there, even if the truth of one day is not that of the next, it would seem that man is on the verge of achieving his objective. But that's another story…
Hypothesis, yes. Rumor, yes. Probability rate? Only the future will tell!
Our interpretation at the time of the first rumors.
