This may not be the end of the contract renewal situation between Bautista and Ducati. The conditional is a must, although it actually seems very difficult. The fact is that Ducati and Aruba are reevaluating the position of Alvaro Bautista. After bidding farewell to the Spanish rider at the beginning of June, the Borgo Panigale manufacturer has failed to find a replacement in this month and a half.
Some paths have been sounded out, but unfortunately negotiations have not even opened up from the economic point of view because of the budget available, reckoned to be around 200,000 euros.
Indeed, the idea was to focus on a young rider, but the most popular names have virtually all been sorted for 2026. The possibility of Canet remains open as well as the one leading to the more experienced Jack Miller, pending his eventual renewal with Yamaha.
These represent Plan A on the part of Ducati, but at the moment there are no answers on either front, although they will certainly come soon, since in August many contract situations will be defined between Moto2 and MotoGP.
According to what was learned yesterday evening, however, Ducati does not want to be found unprepared, so they will re-evaluate Alvaro Bautista's position again, speaking with his manager Simone Battistella. A sort of backtrack on the part of the manufacturer, which in an emergency situation sees in the #19 the best compromise to move forward in 2026.
Obviously Bautista is not the priority, because Plan B remains and he knows it full well.
More defined instead is the situation at Yamaha GRT, where Stefano Manzi is one step away from signing a deal that will tie him to Filippo Conti's team until 2027.