Jorge Lorenzo tells Marc Marquez: “Wait a year, then go to KTM or Ducati”

Marquez is contracted to Honda until the end of 2024 on the biggest-money deal in the sport but his hopes of a seventh premier class championship evaporated in the early weeks of this year, and already look bleak for next year.

But Lorenzo, who ended his own career as Marquez’s Repsol Honda teammate, advises him to respect his contract before searching for a new home.

"If Marc, in quotes, leaves Honda lying around, it would look very bad,” three-time MotoGP champion Lorenzo told DAZN. 

“It would look fatal. We must also remember that in the Jerez 2020 race, he passed the riders as if they were from Moto2. And the bike wasn't doing very well either.

"I believe that you have to be tough and mature, and I would like Marquez to [see out] his contract with them. 

“It is not the same as F1, but, for example, Fernando Alonso is 42 years old, Marquez is 30.

"Yes, it is true that Marc has many more injuries than Fernando, motorcycles are more physical and dangerous than cars.

"But wait one more year, finish well with Honda, and then at 31 you go to KTM to test. 

“Or with Ducati, two more years to win your ninth and tenth title.”

KTM, who share Red Bull as an influential sponsor with Marquez, are regularly linked as his potential escape route from Honda.

They have been candid with their hope to run more than four bikes by 2025.

Marquez said about KTM at the British MotoGP last weekend: "I didn’t talk to them. If my manager talked to them? I don’t have this information.”

Lorenzo reacted to that: “Marc and KTM will have had conversations. 

“I am sure of that, I don't know if they will have been satisfactory or not.”

But Lorenzo reiterated his 2024 hope: “I believe that Marc would have to stay at Honda. For various reasons. 

“I believe that Honda has had a Marc who, due to that injury in Jerez 2020, has [missed] half of all the races to date. 

“And they haven’t cut him a penny [of his salary]. And they could have done it.

"Honda has behaved very well. And Honda's intention is not to be among the last. Honda is trying. It’s another thing if they succeed...

"Surely he has the worst bike ever, but they are trying. 

“Out of loyalty he would have to stay and now Marc would have to be supporting Honda.”