Marc Marquez is well on course to become a seven-time MotoGP champion this season. But he’ll also turn 33 in the winter.
There’s no indication that Marquez is planning to retire imminently, but it’s not out of the question that he only signs one more contract. From a commercial perspective, the series needs to find its next protagonist.
This will be important for new owners Liberty Media, who have already arrived too late to cash in on Valentino Rossi – the ‘Michael Jordan of motorcycles’. Marquez’s symbolic successor must have the necessary combination of talent and charisma.
Fabio Quartararo has previously been called the next Marquez, and he already has a world champion under his belt. Jorge Martin lifted the trophy last season, though he was at the centre of a major controversy earlier this year when he tried to break free of his Aprilia contract.
Francesco Bagnaia is the second-most successful rider on the grid, but he’s already been cast into Marquez’s shadow this year. Perhaps the gauntlet will pass instead to Pedro Acosta.
Dorna pushed KTM sensation Pedro Acosta into English lessons
Of the 22 full-time riders on this year’s MotoGP grid, nine are Spanish. That includes the two youngest entrants – Acosta (21) and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer (20).
A further six riders are Italian, while only two (Australia’s Jack Miller and South Africa’s Brad Binder) speak English as a first language. They are under no firm obligation to master it, but it will no doubt help them build a global brand.
To that end, journalist Simon Patterson told the Pit Talk podcast that Dorna Sports ‘basically forced’ Acosta into English lessons, albeit at his own expense. They realised he could be the future face of the sport after his Moto2 and Moto3 titles.
Photo by Hazrin Yeob Men Shah/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Acosta scored five podiums in a spectacular rookie season, though he’s only managed one so far this year despite being the lead rider at KTM.
“There are factory MotoGP riders whose English isn’t that good,” Patterson said. “That’s a low-hanging fruit to pick [for Liberty].
“To be fair to Dorna, they have been working on that. I know that, the minute that they realised Pedro Acosta realised was the next big thing, he was basically forced into Dorna-organised and paid-for English lessons that paid off. They are aware of that.”
Fernando Alonso has already hinted at how life could change for MotoGP riders under Liberty
MotoGP has been trialling radio communications this year. In F1, every driver speaks English from the cockpit, and that may be a bone of contention in the two-wheel paddock.
Keen viewer Lewis Hamilton says Liberty must ‘modernise’ MotoGP, and that’s bound to cause some tension with the sport’s traditions. For instance, they may not want four Spanish races on the calendar long-term, even though it’s the heartland of the sport.
When he attended last year’s Austrian GP, Fernando Alonso observed that Marquez and co. had ‘easy’ lives after they removed their helmet. Unlike an F1 driver, their schedule wasn’t full of sponsorship duties as well as racing commitments.
But if Liberty can lure a host of new sponsors, riders could suddenly find themselves a lot busier. They’ll be encouraged to hone their English and become as marketable as possible.