With 40 years, Álvaro Bautista is the oldest pilot in the Superbike World Championship, where he treasures two titles (2022 and 2023) and the runner -up of 2019, in addition to 116 podiums with 63 wins. An enviable and more palmarés if we take into account that, in 2020 and 2021, he had to deal with a little competitive Honda CBR1000RR-R. But back to Ducati everything worked and since then until last year, it had been the spearhead of the Italian brand.
But this agreement between both parties, which was ratified with a contract of another year, will not continue in 2026. And it is that both Bautista and Ducati had the option of not continuing with the relationship if they did not agree at the end of the season. Although Álvaro had expressed interest in continuing, it has been the Italian factory that has decided to exercise his option of not renewing.
This leaves in the air the future of Álvaro Bautista, and also leaves available one of the desired Panigale V4 of the factory, to which many pilots aspire and not only of the category but even from MotoGP, where with the arrival precisely of Toprak Razgatlioglu there is little one of the current grill. But there is more and in addition to Jack Miller, which sounds like an option, they also consider exploring on Moto2 and even, although as a third option, it seems, to have a WSBK pilot that in this case seems to be Andrea Iannone.
And what about Bautista’s future?
Well, like Bautista, he has the “need” of a motorcycle if he wants to continue competing, BMW has an even more imperative need to cover the decline of Razgatlioglu. The path of both crosses at that point and right now that could be a reasonable option for both of us, and more after both Bulleta and Locatelli rejected the option to go to BMW to renew for Ducati and Yamaha respectively.
Right now, and despite the speed he has shown in the hands of Toprak, the BMW is not an attractive motorcycle for young pilots, but it might not be a bad option for Spanish. And, as can be seen from the statements of Bautista, although the withdrawal could be an option for some is not for him, which wants to continue competing in 2026. What remains to know, for now, is where.
