Quartararo Without Monster: What Red Bull’s Honda Comeback Changes for 2027

• Red Bull is set to back the Honda factory team in the 2027 and 2028 seasons
• Honda is said to be covering the buyout of Quartararo’s ongoing Monster contract
• Yamaha loses Monster as title sponsor to Aprilia and is looking for a replacement

The rider market for the 2027 MotoGP season has not only shaken up the team line-ups. A lot is also shifting among the sponsors, and the two energy drink brands Red Bull and Monster are at the center of it. According to media reports, Red Bull has agreed with Honda on a return as sponsor of the factory team. This has direct consequences for the rider Honda has signed as its new figurehead: Fabio Quartararo has to part ways with Monster. There has been no official confirmation from Honda or Red Bull so far.

Why does Quartararo have to leave Monster?

Quartararo has to leave Monster because Red Bull is set to appear as a sponsor on the Honda from 2027, and the two brands are direct competitors. A factory rider who personally promotes the rival of the team sponsor does not fit into this model.

For the Frenchman, this ends a long association. Monster has been with him since his move up to MotoGP in 2019, back then still in the Petronas SRT Yamaha satellite team. When he moved to the Yamaha factory team in 2021, the green claw stayed by his side, as Monster was the title sponsor there. Quartararo won all eleven of his MotoGP victories and the 2021 world title with the Monster logo. The 2027 season will therefore be the first of his MotoGP career without this sponsor.

From 2027, Quartararo will ride for the Honda factory team, where he is expected to lead the Japanese manufacturer’s new project. At exactly this moment, Honda is also reorganizing its sponsors.

Who pays the buyout to Monster?

According to reports, Honda is paying the buyout. Quartararo’s contract with Monster originally ran beyond 2026, so a compensation payment was due for the early exit.

This sum was set out in the contract between the rider and the drinks manufacturer. How high it is has not been disclosed. Honda is thus covering the costs arising from its new factory rider’s change of sponsor.

When will Quartararo ride with Red Bull?

As things stand, Quartararo is set to join the circle of Red Bull athletes from January 2027. Reports differ on whether he will be seen in the new colors before then.

The first opportunity is the Valencia test on December 1, the Tuesday after the season finale. There, Quartararo will ride the new Honda prototype for the first time. Some reports assume that he will still wear the Monster logo at this test. Others consider it possible that the Red Bull colors will already appear in Valencia.

The difference between team sponsor and personal sponsor is important here. The team sponsor pays for advertising space on the bike and on the team clothing. The personal sponsor, on the other hand, appears on the rider’s helmet and cap. According to the reports, it is considered settled that Red Bull will be seen on the Honda. Whether Quartararo will also personally become a Red Bull athlete and how the brand will appear on his helmet has not yet been officially clarified.

The Marquez case shows a different path

Marc Marquez shows how things can also play out. When the Spaniard moved to the Ducati factory team in 2025, he had to put his partnership with Red Bull on hold, because Monster is one of Ducati’s most important sponsors. On the bike and team clothing, he raced with the green claw. However, he did not sign a personal contract with Monster. Out of respect for his long-time partner, he chose not to put the Monster logo on his helmet and instead signed a deal with the non-alcoholic beer brand Estrella Galicia 0,0.

So Quartararo could also ride a Honda with Red Bull logos without personally carrying the brand on his helmet. Which path he takes depends on the details of his agreement.

Red Bull Honda: a partnership with history

The connection between Red Bull and Honda is not new. In 2015, the Austrian drinks manufacturer joined Honda Racing Corporation (HRC). According to reports, Red Bull secured 30 percent of the advertising space on the factory bike at the time for a sum in the mid single-digit millions, for nine years until the end of 2023. An important reason was Marc Marquez, who had celebrated his first international successes in Red Bull colors. The two also worked together outside MotoGP: in 2017, Red Bull was title sponsor of the Honda factory team in the Superbike World Championship, in which the late Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl rode. The team and livery were presented on February 6, 2017.

The end came with Marquez’s departure. The contract contained a clause allowing Red Bull an early exit should Marquez leave Honda. At the end of 2023, the multiple world champion agreed with Honda not to ride the final year of his four-year contract. He moved to the Ducati customer team Gresini and became world champion on a Ducati in 2025. Red Bull went with him. In addition, the rider line-up with Joan Mir and Luca Marini is said to have been of little appeal to Red Bull, and the RC213V was no longer considered truly competitive. The MotoGP budget went to the KTM customer team Tech3 for the years 2024 to 2026.

After three seasons without Red Bull, the U-turn now follows. The reports cite confidence in the technical abilities of Honda’s engineers and the talent of Quartararo, who for years left his brand colleagues behind at Yamaha. The logo with the two bulls is set to be placed much more prominently than before. In the first phase, it was mainly found on the lower part of the fairing and on the front fender.

What does the deal mean for Yamaha?

For Yamaha, the deal eliminates a possible replacement for Monster. According to reports, the factory team is losing Monster as title sponsor to Aprilia and is looking for a new name sponsor for 2027.

That would be the first search of this kind since 2019. Until 2018, the team competed with Movistar as title sponsor, back then with Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales. Since then, Monster has been in the team name. Yamaha is said to have tried to win Red Bull as a successor. That failed because Red Bull had already agreed early on with HRC to work together again. The current contract between Yamaha and Monster expires at the end of 2026. Whether the brand will then disappear completely from the M1 or remain with a smaller presence is still open.

For one rider, this could come as a relief. Jorge Martin will ride for the Yamaha factory team in 2027 and 2028 and is a long-time Red Bull athlete. If Monster ends its involvement with Yamaha, Martin could once again compete with a Red Bull cap and Red Bull helmet.

Monster at Aprilia: why Jorge Martin is doing without Red Bull

Aprilia won Monster as main sponsor in the middle of the 2026 season. Since the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, the green claw has been visible on the RS-GP factory bikes, on the side fairing, the tail and the front. This year Monster appears as main sponsor, and from 2027 the brand takes on the role of title sponsor. The agreement runs over several years, according to reports at least until the end of 2028. For Aprilia, it is the first title sponsor since the manufacturer became an independent factory team in 2022.

Aprilia Racing boss Massimo Rivola spoke of a milestone at the announcement: “This agreement represents a milestone for Aprilia Racing and the crowning moment of our path of success.”

For Monster, Aprilia is also interesting because of its riders. Marco Bezzecchi has been a Monster athlete for years, and in 2027 Francesco Bagnaia joins the team as another Monster rider. Both belong to the VR46 Riders Academy, which is also supported by Monster.

The deal had one downside for Jorge Martin. The 2024 world champion has been backed by Red Bull since he won the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2014. With Monster’s arrival at Aprilia, he put the partnership on ice. Since then, he no longer wears a Red Bull logo on his helmet and cap. He still has to display the Monster advertising on his leathers and bike, because these spaces belong to Aprilia. Martin does not plan to negotiate a personal contract with Monster. According to reports, the break until the end of the season means a noticeable financial loss for him.

How is the balance of power between Red Bull and Monster shifting?

With the return to Honda, Red Bull is catching up with Monster again. Currently, Monster is title sponsor of the Yamaha and Aprilia factory teams and an important partner at Ducati, while Red Bull is only represented at KTM in MotoGP.

The background: since the worldwide ban on tobacco advertising, energy drink manufacturers have been the most important financial backers for manufacturers and teams in motorcycle Grand Prix racing. Red Bull and Monster have been battling for years for the best advertising space in the paddock.

The next change could be looming at Ducati. The contract between Ducati and Monster expires at the end of 2027. The factory team will then field Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta, two riders closely linked to Red Bull. Even after 2023, Red Bull is said to have briefly toyed with joining Ducati because of Marquez, but the Borgo Panigale manufacturer extended with Monster several times. Whether Red Bull will make a new attempt is open. There is already speculation about it in the paddock. Alongside the rider market, the sponsor market for the 2027 MotoGP season is thus also being reshaped.

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