Ducati Sporting Director says negotiating Marc Marquez's New Contract was far from Easy
It had been widely reported for months before the official announcement that Marc Marquez would extend his contract with Ducati through the end of the 2028 season. However the negotiations were far more complicated than many expected.
Ducati's Sporting Director Mauro Grassilli explained that securing Marc Marquez's first contract with the factory team ahead of the 2025 season was relatively straightforward. This time, however, the negotiations took months.
As Grassilli said.
"To be honest, we’ve had a really tough few months. It was much easier for us to sign the first contract with Marc. When he moved from Gresini to Ducati Lenovo at the end of 2024, everything went smoothly. The situation last winter was anything but easy.
I’ll be honest – we didn’t have a Plan B at all. As far as Marc was concerned, we did everything we could to keep working with him, and throughout that whole time – we’re talking months – Ducati stuck with him. During that period, there was no alternative for us; it was always all about Marc."
Posted Jul 29, 2026, 6:56 AM UTC