In just over two years MotoGP has lined up three sponsor moves that, read together, tell you almost everything worth knowing on this subject. In September 2024 Repsol announced the end of its relationship with the Honda factory team, after thirty years. In May 2026 Monster signed to become Aprilia’s title sponsor from 2027. In October 2026 Red Bull, which had left Honda at the end of 2023, announced its return to the Japanese team from 2027.
The common assumption is that a sponsor changes team when the team stops winning. Sometimes that is true, but it is the least useful explanation. I read it another way: sponsors change teams when the reason they signed in the first place changes. The sporting result is only one of the ingredients.
In short
- There are four recurring reasons: the rider or driver, the technical project, the brand’s position on the grid and the balance between cost and return.
- A well-prepared change brings audience, markets and a new story; an improvised one leaves the brand tied for years to the previous team.
- Exclusivities, riders’ contracts and the timing of the market must be read before signing, not after.
Four reasons to change team
1. The rider or driver
When the value of a sponsorship lies in the person, the person takes the sponsor along. Banco Santander joined McLaren in 2007, the year of Fernando Alonso, stayed on after the Spaniard left and in 2010 also arrived at Ferrari, the same season as Alonso, while keeping a smaller deal with McLaren for a few more years. In 2025 it left Ferrari for Williams together with another Spaniard, Carlos Sainz. In MotoGP, Red Bull had a contract with Honda that allowed it to leave if Marc Márquez departed: Márquez moved to Ducati with the Gresini team for 2024 and Red Bull walked away. We have written a dedicated article on how driver and rider transfers move sponsors and audiences.
2. The technical project
A sponsor also buys a future. According to The Race, two factors weighed on Red Bull’s return to Honda: the new MotoGP rules for 2027, with 850 cc bikes and Pirelli tyres, which reshuffle many balances, and the arrival of Fabio Quartararo, 2021 world champion, signed by Honda for 2027 and 2028. The same reasoning, turned upside down, helps to read the exits. When Repsol announced the split, the Honda factory team had not won a title since 2019 or a race since 2021. Neither Repsol nor Honda gave an official reason.
3. The brand’s position
Some sponsors change team to change role. Monster, title sponsor of the Yamaha factory team since 2019, has been main sponsor of Aprilia since the 2026 Italian Grand Prix and will become its title sponsor in 2027. Its role at Yamaha in 2027 has not yet been made official. The most quoted precedent is Marlboro: after twenty-three seasons with McLaren, from 1974 to 1996, Philip Morris moved the bulk of its investment to Ferrari, whose title sponsor it became in 1997. The way I read it, one team, the most recognisable in the championship, was worth more than a presence split across several cars.
4. Cost and return
The fourth reason is the simplest and the least talked about: the contract expires and the company runs the numbers again. The price of a winning team goes up, the brand’s goals change, a new market becomes a priority. In these cases the change is a normal investment decision and should be treated as one, with the same indicators used to measure the previous sponsorship.
What you gain
A well-prepared change delivers three things. A new audience, because every team and every rider has their own fans and their own countries. A new story, because joining a team is news, and news can be used in communication, with customers and inside the company. And a new contract, which can be written taking into account what the previous sponsorship taught: rights, hospitality, activations, measurement of results.
What you risk
The first risk is staying tied, in the public’s mind, to the previous team. Marlboro is the extreme example. The European directive on tobacco advertising has applied since 31 July 2005, yet the link between that brand and Ferrari red survived for a long time, to the point that in 2010 some British doctors accused the barcode on the livery of being subliminal advertising. Ferrari denied it, but from that year’s Spanish Grand Prix it removed the motif from the car, in agreement with Philip Morris. It is a story we tell in detail when discussing tobacco in Formula 1.
The second risk is exclusivity. As reported by Motorsport.com and Crash, Red Bull’s contract prevented Honda from taking on another energy drink at least for 2024: whoever leaves can leave constraints for those who stay, and whoever arrives needs to know which ones. The third is riders’ personal contracts. In 2025, moving to the Ducati factory team, linked to Monster, Márquez ended his personal deal with Red Bull. A sponsor joining a team also inherits the coexistence, not always easy, between the riders’ brands and the team’s.
Before changing, three questions
I have seen more than one company reach the expiry date with the decision already made, out of fatigue or enthusiasm. It works better to pause on three questions. First: what was I really buying, the team, the rider or the championship? Second: what does the new choice give me that the old one no longer did, measured with the same indicators? Third: which constraints do I leave behind and which do I find, from product category exclusivities to riders’ contracts and the market calendar? If even one answer is missing, it is worth taking the time to find it before signing.
How we work when a sponsor wants to change
We have been following the sponsor market of Formula 1 and MotoGP for thirty years, and the most useful part of our work comes before the signature: understanding what worked in the previous sponsorship, which teams and riders match today’s goals, which clauses are needed to avoid repeating the same constraints. In our model the commission is paid by the sports property, not by the sponsoring company: this separation is what allows us to recommend staying, too, when staying pays off.
A change of team is announced in a day. It is paid for, or cashed in, for years.
Frequently asked questions on why sponsors change teams
Why do sponsors change teams?
For four recurring reasons: following a rider or driver, betting on a more promising technical project, changing role and visibility on the grid, or re-running the numbers between cost and return when the contract expires. The sporting result matters, but it is rarely the only reason.
Can a sponsor follow a driver or rider to another team?
Yes. Banco Santander arrived at Ferrari in 2010, the same year as Fernando Alonso, and in 2025 moved from Ferrari to Williams together with Carlos Sainz. In MotoGP, Red Bull left Honda at the end of 2023, after Marc Márquez’s exit, thanks to a clause in its contract.
Why did Repsol leave Honda in MotoGP?
On 8 September 2024 Repsol announced the end of its relationship with the Honda factory team after the 2024 season, thirty years after it began in 1995. Neither side gave an official reason. Since 2025 the team has raced as Honda HRC Castrol and from 2027 it will welcome Red Bull back among its main partners.
Why did Marlboro sponsor only Ferrari?
After twenty-three seasons with McLaren, from 1974 to 1996, Philip Morris focused its investment on Ferrari, whose title sponsor it became in 1997: a single team, the most recognisable one, instead of a split presence. After the European tobacco advertising ban the brand appeared only at a few races outside the European Union, until 2007; the link then continued through the controversial barcode, removed from the livery in 2010, and Philip Morris remained a Ferrari partner for many years.
What does a company risk when it changes team?
Three things: remaining associated in the public’s memory with the previous team, finding in the new team exclusivities left by other sponsors, and clashing with the riders’ personal contracts. That is why the constraints must be read before signing.
When is it worth changing sponsorship?
When the new choice brings something the previous one no longer gives, measured with the same indicators, and when the constraints on the way out and on the way in are clear. The contract expiry is the natural moment to decide, keeping an eye on the rider market calendar.
