Márquez’s goodbye to Honda has its first direct consequence: Red Bull leaves

2023-11-13 20:27:34

The news was reported last Sunday by Speedweek.com – a media outlet owned by Red Bull – at the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix, and today it is also confirmed by Motorsport.com: The Repsol Honda Team will lose Red Bull sponsorship at the end of this seasonone more consequence of Marc Márquez’s departure for Gresini Racing, a structure that, in turn, will welcome the energy drink giant through a sponsorship that has yet to be defined.

The relationship between HRC and Red Bull in the Motorcycle World Championship dates back to the 2006 season, when Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden wore the iconic bull for the first time of the Austrian beverage firm in their respective kits. Marc Márquez’s insane emergence into MotoGP, winning the title in his debut in the premier class, drew the attention of Red Bull, which did not hesitate to increase its ties with Honda two years later, in 2015, placing its logo on the bike for the first time. Official RC213V.

Since then, the brand founded in 1980 by Dietrich Mateschitz has been prominently seen on the plastics of the Repsol Honda Team, taking advantage of Márquez’s media pull to carry out various advertising actions that have seen the Cervera rider climb a ski slope on his spiked MotoGP or even make his debut behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car from the Toro Rosso team with his teammate at the time, Dani Pedrosa.

For Red Bull, the presence of Marc Márquez in the Repsol Honda box It has always been an essential condition to sponsor the official HRC team.. In fact, according to Motorsport.com, the legal agreement that binds both parties not only includes this requirement, but also prevents Honda from allowing another energy drink sponsor in its fairings until the end of the contract (December 2024). , and even if Red Bull decides to break it early, the Repsol team must respect this clause.

Now that Marc Márquez has made his departure official for Gresini Racing, Red Bull would have already informed those responsible for Honda the termination of your agreement at the end of this campaignthus ending a long relationship that was celebrating its 18th anniversary this year since that distant 2006.

And it remains to be seen if Red Bull will be the only major sponsor to jump ship from Honda at the end of the current year; Estrella Galicia, the most powerful brewery of the Hijos de Rivera Corporation, also actively collaborates with the Repsol Honda Team as a result of the personal sponsorship it has had with Marc Márquez for years, a sponsorship from which his brother Álex and Gresini Racing itself also benefited, with Estrella Galicia stickers on the fairing of his Ducati and on the Catalan’s leathers.

The only positive conclusion that Honda can draw from Marc’s goodbye and the fear of some of its sponsors is the savings that the Japanese factory will achieve by not having to pay in 2024 the 15 million euros that Marc has been earning for three seasonsmoney that will surely compensate for the lack of sponsorship income, especially given the prospect of 2024 without the possibility of signing an agreement with another energy drink brand.

Besides, Honda will maintain its most important sponsor, Repsol, for the moment. Their last renewal agreement was signed in 2022 for a period of two seasons (until the end of 2024), and although Marc Márquez’s departure has not been liked by those around the Spanish oil company, their intention is to respect the current agreement and define next year whether or not to continue linked to the Honda factory team.

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It is important to remember that MotoGP is on track to use 100% synthetic fuels within four years, and for Repsol it is an unbeatable showcase when it comes to publicizing this product. His continuity in the championship seems guaranteed, but it remains to be seen if it will be with Honda or if they will bet on the team in which Marc competes in 2025, be it Ducati or even KTM.