Guenther Steiner was in the enviable position of having time on his side, and options aplenty. He knew what he wanted; equally, his pre-MotoGP past meant he absolutely knew what he didn’t.
Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
The former F1 team principal of the Haas team – who shot to prominence after well over a decade in the sport when the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ series debuted in 2019 – was months into his first year as the owner of the Tech3 MotoGP team, and had to choose a rider line-up for the 2027 MotoGP season, the first of the 850cc regulation revamp that represents the biggest shake-up to the sport since 2012.
With the 2027 rider market silly season kicking off before on-track action in 2026 even began – multiple deals were done from late January but kept under wraps for months – Steiner had no shortage of suitors with incumbents Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales out of contract, and two seats at his team where others elsewhere had already been snapped up.
Given there were more candidates than there were vacancies on the grid, Steiner could take his time. A lesson from his past was instructive.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
‘TOTALLY AGAINST IT’ Rider rebellion over bizarre fines, team orders could swing title fight
TALKING POINTS Indonesia winner adds to intrigue, ‘unrideable’ Yamaha sees Aussie out early
“Two rookies would have been too much risk even for me,” Steiner tells Fox Sports with a laugh, referencing the 2021 F1 season when Haas paired Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher in an all-rookie line-up that scored no points and accumulated a hefty crash damage bill.
“I’ve learned that lesson before! In that situation the team stayed alive, so that was a good outcome … I regret it, but in the end I’m proud that I did it. But it was no fun at all.”
With so many veteran race-winning MotoGP riders available for 2027 – Alex Rins and Jack Miller at Yamaha, Vinales and Brad Binder at KTM, Franco Morbidelli at Ducati – Steiner backed his gut and went for experienced Italian Luca Marini, six years into a premier-class career that has yet to feature a win for Ducati and Honda, and Australian Moto2 up-and-comer Senna Agius.
It was an unusual choice, but Steiner – as his F1 past illustrates – isn’t afraid to get a little left-field in order to chase success.
“With Senna, you see the potential … he’s young, but I think that if we can get him in the right frame of mind and give him the equipment, I think we could have something special,” Steiner said.
“The chance to find something special with Senna is bigger than anybody else in my opinion, because the guy wants to do it and he’s there to do it.
“Luca … we picked him because of his experience (because) we have Senna on the other side who hasn’t got it. He can bring a lot to the team. He’s a very thoughtful person, he’s not emotional, he’s thinking through things, and that is what I think we need here – I think he will be a contributing factor to this.
“We shouldn’t put rookies in the position where we don’t give them a chance. You’re really playing with their careers, and you need to help them to get the best out of themselves. Luca will be a guy who, with Senna, will be pretty good.”
SPEED, SMARTS: WHY STEINER BET ON ITALIAN’S UPSIDE
Marini, 29, has been in the world championship paddock for 10 years, but known about for a lot longer.
The lanky Italian is the half-brother of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi – the pair, 18 years apart in age, share the same mother, Stefania Palma – which gained him outsize attention when he started full-time in Moto2 in 2016.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Michael and Matt review the last-lap drama at the Bathurst 1000 which saw Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood sweep to victory, look back at Max Verstappen’s flawless F1 win in Singapore, and consider the MotoGP state of play after Marco Bezzecchi won for Aprilia in Indonesia. | Listen to Pit Talk | Watch the podcast on YouTube
He raced for Rossi’s Moto2 and then MotoGP teams from 2018-23, the high point coming in 2020 when he finished as Moto2 championship runner-up to compatriot Bastianini after a season with three wins and six podium finishes.
The recent success of younger riders like Fermin Aldeguer and Raul Fernandez, who both won their maiden MotoGP races last year, along with Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta, both first-time race-winners in 2026, means Marini is one of just three riders on the current grid without a premier-class Grand Prix success to their name.
For context, though, rarely has Marini had machinery capable of breaking through.
In 2023, he took two poles and two podiums for Ducati while finishing eighth in the championship, which showed Honda enough to hire him when Marc Marquez left the Japanese brand with a year to go on his contract for Ducati, Honda immediately spiralling into also-ran status after the diminutive Spanish giant departed.
Capable as he is on a bike, Marini – studious, clever, calm – has made a bigger impact off it, renowned as one of the smartest thinkers on the grid, and one of its foremost technical minds.
In many respects, he’s like an engineer who rides, capable of downloading precise information to his team in a bid to shave lap time here, pursue a set-up direction there.
In 2024, he told crash.net that he’d even tried to learn Japanese in order to speak to Honda’s engineers in their native tongue for clarity in debriefs. “It’s super difficult (but) I try to give very precise feedback to them because what a rider feels on the bike is sometimes difficult to see on the data,” he said.
With Honda turning to 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo to spearhead what it hopes will be a return to relevance as the 850cc era begins next year, Marini was a free agent – and Steiner saw a need that could be filled after a tumultuous season where the mercurial Vinales has missed much of it with lingering injuries, and a restless Bastianini was looking for an exit door, which he found with Aprilia for 2027.
“In MotoGP, all the riders are good … but understanding and riding fast are two different things,” Steiner said.
“Luca, I felt a connection … and we need an experienced rider.
“When I met him for the first time, I was impressed with how he speaks. He makes sense, he asks good questions, he’s very thorough. My thing is, he will help the team, and KTM as well.”
Marini, who attended the Italian F1 Grand Prix at Monza for what became a lengthy catch-up with his new team boss, appreciated Steiner’s trademark lack of filter.
“I had some negotiations with Guenther of course, and he has a good and direct approach,” Marini tells Fox Sports.
“It’s better like this. For sure he is still learning things about MotoGP, but there are many people around who have a lot of experience. I’m proud to have this reputation of being a leader with good technical knowledge, but I am going there to be fast too, to fight for victories. This is the most important thing.”
Marini and Agius – who’ll form an unusually tall rider duo next year, both over 180cm – have crossed paths at Rossi’s famed ‘Ranch’ in Tavullia, where ‘The Doctor’ regularly hosts riders from current and past world championships in motocross events; it was at one such get-together last year that Agius, memorably, captured Rossi’s attention with his dirt-track speed.
“I don’t know him super well yet – with the demands of MotoGP now you don’t really get a chance to speak to people in the other classes so much – but I have met him a couple of times at the Ranch,” Marini said of Agius.
“But of course we follow all the races, and Senna has been able to adapt quite quickly to Moto2. That’s always a good sign, and he was very strong in the Spanish championship too. He’s made quite a lot of progress in just a few years.”
‘ON THE MONEY’: AGIUS KEEN TO LEARN FROM TEAMMATE
Excited as Agius is to get his premier-class world championship debut next season – continuing a remarkable run of at least one full-time Australian on the grid that stretches back to 1985 in the process – he knows he has plenty to learn.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
RACE REPORT Title race tightens again as Italian snaps 10-race drought
‘THE MODERN MOTOGP RACER’ Why outgoing Aussie is adamant Agius has the goods
And for a factory like KTM, which has largely made up the numbers for the past two years despite Acosta’s repeated brilliance, having Marini as part of a complete clean-out of riders between seasons is undoubtedly an asset.
KTM’s factory team will welcome current Ducati duo Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio in place of the Ducati-bound Acosta and Binder, who will move to World Superbikes next year; it’s a line-up of similarly-sized riders with Grand Prix race-winning pedigree and upside, and one Agius is keen to capitalise on being part of.
“(Luca is) known as a very smart guy, knows what he’s doing and is very analytical,” Agius told Fox Sports at Motegi for the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month.
“I think his inputs into the 850 will be on the money. He’ll have knowledge over me at the beginning, for sure, and I’m pretty happy that all four KTM riders are all quite tall, so hopefully we don’t get any alienated problems.
“He looks switched on, and he’ll be good to be alongside in the (pit) box. For now, I only know him to say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ … I met him after the race at Rossi’s ranch last year, and that was in a normal setting which was actually pretty relaxed, pretty cool.”
Marini expects Agius to adapt fast, with the 850cc bikes producing less power than the current machines, the 2027 regulations banning many of the aerodynamic excrescences and rider aids that have become MotoGP’s technical battleground in recent times, and Pirelli – which supplies tyres to Moto2 – taking over from Michelin as the premier-class tyre brand.
When it’s suggested to Marini that 2027 is the ideal time to graduate to MotoGP as a rookie – as Agius’ Moto2 rivals Dani Holgado, David Alonso and Izan Guevara are doing with Ducati, Honda and Yamaha respectively – the Italian agrees.
Acosta claims MotoGP win | 01:42
“I think that the jump from Moto2 to MotoGP will be the smallest it has ever been next year,” Marini said.
“Knowing the tyres is a huge part of the equation as well, so as much knowledge as you can have will always help. From my side, I hope to adapt quickly – I think I am quite good at understanding what needs to be done to get the most out of changes – but probably more than the change in cc and aero, the (different) tyres will have the biggest impact.”
It’s that big – yet smaller than usual – leap that Steiner cites, too.
Only Aprilia – with Marco Bezzecchi and two-time MotoGP champion for Ducati Francesco Bagnaia in its factory team, and Bastianini joining Raul Fernandez in its satellite Trackhouse Aprilia squad – aren’t blooding at least one premier-class debutant next year.
Agius is his calculated bet.
“I think a lot of people feel that, if there’s a time to put a rookie in, next year is it – that was my thinking as well,” Steiner said.
“But even if the regulations had have stayed stable, I would have gone for a rookie for the same reason … if you take any of these riders who may have been there 10 years, then you know what you’re getting. That is not exciting. If you’re looking for something special, you need to take some risk.
“Do I have any insurance that our choice will be successful? No. But there’s no point not trying.”
Leave a Reply