The last MotoGP manufacturer yet to name a factory line-up for 2027, Honda still faces a rider dilemma - but its choice is easy.

Though there's been no announcement yet, it is common knowledge 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo, arriving from Yamaha, will spearhead the programme.

Quartararo said at the Sachsenring the official confirmation shouldn't take "super long", adding: "I mean, I think I have nothing to hide. It's just that I cannot say [it officially]."

Two other riders, Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco (currently the LCR line-up), have existing contracts from before covering 2027.

And just today (Tuesday, July 21) Honda has announced a "multi-year deal" for Moto2's David Alonso to race in MotoGP starting in 2027.

It was a short announcement - three paragraphs, no quotes, no official contract length besides "multi-year". And, most notably, no specific MotoGP team for Alonso to race in.

That last part strongly suggests Honda is still actively deliberating between Alonso and Moreira for the second factory team slot (as team-mate to Quartararo), with the 'loser' ending up at LCR.

Alonso is probably the most hyped MotoGP prospect since Pedro Acosta, courtesy of an extraordinarily dominant 2024 Moto3 season in which he proved both really fast and incredibly cerebral in managing the chaotic race situations that the lightweight class throws up on a consistent basis.

He was metronomic in how he would manoeuvre himself to the front and play his cards in late-race pack racing for the win. This has showed up in Moto2, too, even if the adaptation to the intermediate class has not been totally straightforward through 2025-26 - because Alonso hasn't always been fully fit but also because learning the ropes in Moto2 is notoriously hard anyway.

Alonso isn't really in the Moto2 title fight this year - there potentially isn't a title fight given the buffer established by Manu Gonzalez, and Alonso's crash at the Sachsenring didn't help matters - but his 4.367s median gap to winner is the second best in the series.

He is performing at a sufficient level for MotoGP consideration (which coupled with his Moto3 excellence makes a premier-class promotion a no-brainer). But he has not done enough to leapfrog Moreira in the queue, and there is no competitive incentive to send that message to the pair.

This has been a strong first season in MotoGP for Moreira, who needed just a few rounds to become a regular competitor with fellow Honda riders Joan Mir, Luca Marini and Johann Zarco (albeit with the latter out through injury for a prolonged spell).

Average The Race rating per round for Honda riders, 2026

Diogo Moreira - 6.9/10
Johann Zarco - 6.6/10
Luca Marini - 6.3/10
Cal Crutchlow - 6.3/10
Joan Mir - 6.0/10

Much of his success has been propped up by good track position in qualifying - something that feels particularly essential to exploit for Honda riders - but the raw pace appears just half a step behind and increasingly he has been able to hold his own against more experienced riders in race trim.

Though Alonso is a more-heralded prospect, Moreira is more advanced, both in terms of Moto2 accomplishment and in terms of established MotoGP experience.

He has avoided publicly professing a preference for whether he rides for LCR or the factory team next season, but reading between the lines the opportunity to make the switch seems to appeal.

LCR would accept it. "First and foremost, we are extremely grateful to work with Honda - this is our 21st MotoGP season with Honda, and we are extremely grateful because we receive the same material," team owner Lucio Cecchinello told The Race.

"We have a factory bike, we have a bunch of engineers that work for HRC inside our team - and other performance engineers, that are taking care of the factory team, they are also taking care of LCR.

"Within this collaboration, I think that is also one of the, let's say, natural things - that a satellite team should act as a platform to develop young riders' generations and also to eventually select and provide to the factory team if requested.

"I hope that HRC will not make this request - because, of course, we enjoy very much to work with Diogo Moreira. But if the day will arrive that they will ask Diogo or Johann or whoever in the future - we have no problem to accept that this is part of the game - or, let's say it's a part of the deal, part of the collaboration.

"And if it will happen, of course personally and thinking about just ourselves, we are not happy - but on the other hand, it means that we have done our job well."

LCR would get a great sweetener in Alonso. Alonso - as reported by multiple sources - will have the sweetener of working with Santi Hernandez, the crew chief associated with most of Marc Marquez's wins and titles.

Yes, there is a case, too, for just pairing up Alonso with Quartararo right away - but that just risks burning Moreira as a Honda asset, by effectively cutting off his medium-term route to the factory team (given Quartararo and Alonso would surely be intended to last as a partnership).

Moreira has been productive enough to warrant more consideration for his ambitions. And yes, assuming all three work out as expected, Honda will face a Quartararo-Alonso-Moreira three-into-two problem sooner or later - but it's better not to pre-judge that situation.

It should commit to Moreira in the factory team, and it should do it now instead of having the uncertainty hanging over the rest of Moreira's MotoGP campaign and Alonso's Moto2 graduation push.