Jorge Martin's intention to leave Aprilia at the end of the season, leveraging a loophole in his contract, was a bolt from the blue for a rider market that appeared to have calmed down. However, the world champion is no stranger to such moves, and KTM knows something about that. The Spaniard, in fact, was supposed to make his MotoGP debut in 2021 with the Austrian manufacturer and not with Ducati, as then happened.
Martin, in fact in 2019 switched to Moto2 with KTM with a contract that provided the premier class for him two years later. However, there was a clause: Jorge could have freed himself if in the previous year, in June, no KTM rider was in the top 10 of the world championship standings. Which indeed happened, but only because the Covid pandemic broke out and the first Grand Prix that year was run in mid-July. Jorge and his manager Albert Valera showed even at the time that they knew how to read between the lines of agreements very well, and with a derisory penalty (there was talk of about 40,000 euros) they were able to sign with the Pramac and Ducati teams.
In recent years, not many riders have terminated their existing contracts, but there have been some precedents. The latest one is well known and concerns Marc Marquez. The champion had signed a four-year contract with Honda in 2020, but in 2023 he decided to break it a year ahead of its natural expiry. In this case the two parties came to an agreement together and no feathers started to fly. Marc had given so much to HRC (including 6 world titles) and, after his arm injury and the technical crisis of the bike, the Japanese behaved like gentlemen, letting their rider rebuild his career in Ducati. A winning bet, as we know.
The case most similar to Martin's, however, concerns Crutchlow. Cal arrived in the official Ducati team in 2014 with a two-year contract, but on August 2 of that year came the news of their divorce. The Briton (for whom there was talk of a salary of between 6 and 8 million euros per season) had never really got into the swing of things with the Desmosedici; before the farewell announcement he had disputed 10 races, scoring only 36 points (a third of those of Dovizioso, his teammate). Crutchlow in 2015 raced for Honda and the LCR team, but managed to get on the podium with the Rossa (at Aragon) before leaving. There were rumors that Cal had an option for his second year with Ducati, but details were never released.
In two other cases, however, the riders did not even make it to the end of the season. Johann Zarco arrived in the official KTM team in 2019, with a two-year contract in his pocket. After the Austrian GP, however, came the announcement of his farewell at the end of the season. The two parties failed to finish the year together and, at Aragon, the Frenchman was replaced by Mika Kallio. Johann then raced the last three races of 2019 with the LCR Honda team before switching to Ducati.
We continue with Vinales. The Spaniard demonstrated a penchant for divorce at an early age. In 2012 he refused to race in Malaysia with the Blusens Avintia team when he was fighting for the Moto3 championship. The most resounding breakup, however, was with Yamaha in 2021. After the Sachsenring GP, Lin Jarvis announced the end of his contract at the end of the season, a year earlier than planned. It did not arrive at that date however, because Yamaha suspended Maverick for the Austrian GP, after the Spaniard tried to break his M1's engine upon re-entering the pits at the Styria GP. The contract termination was immediate and Vinales finished the season with Aprilia.
And we conclude with Melandri. Marco in 2008 ended his two-year contract he had signed with Ducati early because of poor results together. History repeated itself in 2015, when he was with Aprilia. His adventure with Noale (the last for him in MotoGP) ended after just 8 Grands Prix. In both cases they were consensual divorces.