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A second seismic team change for Marc Marquez in as many years will headline a 2025 MotoGP entry list largely unrecognisable from its predecessor.
But much of that entry list still remains a moving target, with most manufacturers yet to fully crystallise their rider plans and satellite teams waiting in the wings to see what MotoGP-proven riders will lose out in the game of musical chairs and what Moto2 stars will make the biggest impression.
Not to mention, it is still unclear what the exact make-up of the grid will be in terms of machinery.
Below is the 2025 MotoGP grid as it currently stands.
Factory teams
Ducati
Pecco Bagnaia (Italy, born 1997)
Marc Marquez (Spain, 1993)
The most successful manufacturer in MotoGP for the last few years will welcome a six-time champion into its factory team in Marc Marquez, creating a mouth-watering and potentially volatile combination with established franchise rider Pecco Bagnaia.
Things have remained largely cordial between Marquez and Bagnaia, but the latter's status as Marquez arch-rival Valentino Rossi's most successful protege is inescapable context.
However, even without that context, the simple fact is these are two riders who will head into 2025 with the title as their only goal - but they can't both win it.
KTM
Pedro Acosta (Spain, 2004)
Brad Binder (South Africa, 1995)
Pedro Acosta's form as a MotoGP rookie has already confirmed his status as a transcendent talent and a game changer, with a multi-year new contract and a promotion to the factory team for 2025 from satellite outfit Tech3 the easiest rider decision KTM will have ever made.
Acosta's emergence has taken the shine off KTM's previous standard-bearer Brad Binder - who had earned a contract extension back in 2023 - to the point where KTM had even left the door slightly ajar to Binder being shifted into Tech3.
With the likes of Marquez and Jorge Martin now off the market, this will clearly not happen, but it's Acosta who KTM will see right now as its likeliest ticket to a title - perhaps as early as 2025.
Aprilia
Jorge Martin (Spain, 1998)
TBC
Faced with one Ducati factory team rejection too many, Martin immediately jumped into Aprilia's willing arms, becoming its biggest free agent signing in history - with even the possibility that he'll bring the champion's #1 plate with him.
Martin has been positioned as a direct replacement for his great friend Aleix Espargaro, who is stepping aside from full-time competition at the end of the year.
On the other side of the garage, Aprilia has made it clear that it intends to continue with incumbent Maverick Vinales and even indicated it is simply awaiting his signature on a new deal. But, of course, we don't know the terms of that proposed deal - and Vinales himself has been emphasising that he wants to take full stock of his options.
Yamaha
Fabio Quartararo (France, 1999)
TBC
While things aren't so rosy on track, Yamaha completed its big silly season mission for 2024 by hanging on to its talisman Fabio Quartararo - who had snapped a five-year title drought for the factory back in 2021.
Paddock chatter suggests it has been doing some form of due diligence on who will partner Quartararo going forward, but incumbent Alex Rins looks a no-brainer to earn an extension - both as a grand prix winner with a track record for developmental acumen, and as a rider who is already challenging Quartararo over one lap (even if there's a gap in race pace).
Honda
Luca Marini (Italy, 1997)
TBC
Luca Marini has on the whole been the fourth-fastest of Honda's four regular riders - across the works team and the satellite LCR team - in 2024, but an early termination of the initial deal the two parties had signed to cover both '24 and '25 seems out of the question.
Marini, brought in from the Ducati camp, appears to be valued as a development asset and a reassuringly pragmatic presence - but Honda is also probably the least likely factory to try to force a mid-contract split.
And there's also the fact that the RC213V is unlikely to attract all that many suitors, as evidenced by Marini's team-mate Joan Mir's increasingly public pining for a future outside of Honda's project.
Satellite teams
Pramac/VR46/Gresini
Fermin Aldeguer (Spain, 2005)
All other riders TBC
Team structure TBC
Ducati's new signing Fermin Aldeguer - a 19-year-old brought in on the strength of a mesmerising end to last year's Moto2 campaign - will ride for one of its satellite teams.
Normally this would be Pramac, but Ducati's long-term second-in-command team is known to have been aggressively courted by Yamaha - and Ducati faces mission impossible to offer it a rider who will be an adequate replacement for the Aprilia-bound Martin.
Valentino Rossi's VR46, like Pramac, has its Ducati deal expire at the end of the year, but seems much more of a shoo-in to stay, and could be in line for a windfall of factory-spec machinery that would normally belong to Pramac.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was its first non-VR46 Academy hire this year, but it was also known to have courted Aldeguer, so could be a logical landing spot for him.
Finally, Gresini already has a Ducati deal covering 2025, but its rider plans appear totally up in the air now that Marquez is leaving - and, like with VR46, said plans are presumably heavily dependent on what happens with Pramac.
Tech3
Enea Bastianini (Italy, 1997) - deal TBC
TBC
A radio appearance from manager Carlo Pernat in his and Enea Bastianini's native Italy has revealed the current works Ducati rider will head to Tech3 on a factory contract with KTM's parent company Pierer Mobility Group.
This has seemingly been confirmed by Ducati itself, which has already officially bid farewell to Bastianini when it announced Marquez.
It sets up a real free-for-all for the second ride at the team. Jack Miller, who will be phased out of the works KTM team by Acosta's arrival, has expressed an interest, and Acosta's current Tech3 team-mate Augusto Fernandez would presumably like to stay - but both have been disappointing this year, and parent company Pierer Mobility Group will have other options to fill the seat, both currently in MotoGP and in Moto2 (or even Moto3?).
There are also rumblings that the team might not continue as Tech3 Gas Gas but instead take on a different brand identity from within Pierer Mobility Group.
Trackhouse
TBC
TBC
MotoGP's newest team, albeit now spearheaded by one of its most revered team bosses in Davide Brivio, is yet to make a concrete move on the rider market - but has acknowledged it expects to have a solid amount of options.
Those options should include its current riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, who have been relatively evenly-matched in 2024 - albeit with Fernandez on an older-spec bike compared to Oliveira's up-to-date machine.
Of the two, Fernandez is the one who more clearly expressed both a desire to stay and an optimism that it will happen.
American Moto2 frontrunner Joe Roberts has been positioned as a no-brainer candidate, but Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola indicated that he didn't believe Trackhouse would go for a rookie rider given the experienced options expected to be on the market. One of those options, the aforementioned Mir, won a MotoGP title under Brivio at Suzuki in 2020.
LCR Honda
Johann Zarco (France, 1990)
TBC
Johann Zarco could be a logical option for a promotion to the factory Honda team, but don't expect that to happen - as both Zarco and, unsurprisingly, LCR seem to favour him staying at the team for the full duration of his contract (spanning 2024-25) and Honda is unlikely to want to rock the boat.
The other side of the LCR garage is backed by Japanese sponsor Idemitsu so will presumably continue to require a Japanese rider. Takaaki Nakagami has fulfilled the requirement since his MotoGP debut and a re-signing would not be unthinkable - but the time might finally be right for Moto2 ace Ai Ogura to take over the ride for his MotoGP debut instead.
