2017 MotoGP seat shuffle

It's the annual sideshow that nearly commands as much attention as the racing: the shuffle for factory seats in the MotoGP championship.

And the biggest move of all so far this year, as most of the wise pundits predicted, was the announcement that Jorge Lorenzo would be defecting from Yamaha to Ducati for the next two seasons.

Lorenzo's decision to take the massive financial carrot at Ducati isn't a surprise in itself — after all his current teammate Valentino Rossi did the same thing himself once — but more his decision to part company with the neutral handling factory Yamaha, which is a perfect match for his beautifully smooth and inch-perfect riding style.

After the fever pitch of Lorenzo's announcement, there wasn't much time to draw breath before speculation started to crank up again as to who was going to fill the hole at Movistar Yamaha, while Ducati had to decide whether to keep Andrea Dovizioso or Andrea Iannone to partner Lorenzo.

Dovizioso was the one to get the green light from Ducati — Iannone's errant ways at the start of the season surely not helping his cause — which seemingly left Iannone out in the cold. Or maybe not? We'll get to that…

That's where another Spaniard, Maverick Vinales, entered the picture. Arguably the season's biggest improver — he's fifth in the standings after six rounds — Vinales was offered Lorenzo's gig at Yamaha, and he had to decide between that and a fresh contract tabled by Suzuki. Around that time, there was talk of Pedrosa perhaps also being in the Yamaha mix, but when he re-signed at Repsol Honda for two years Vinales was the only genuine contender remaining.

And so it was, his move to Yamaha announced on the Thursday before Mugello — and at the same time a communique came out from Suzuki stating that Iannone would take Vinales' place to ride the ever-improving GSX-RR.

As far as factory positions in 2017 are concerned, there are still three spots up for grabs — well four on the basis that Marc Marquez hasn't re-signed at Repsol Honda, but that appears to be a fair accompli.

Outside of Marquez, the second seats at Ecstar Suzuki and Gresini Aprilia (alongside Sam Lowes, who will move up from Moto2) are still vacant, while KTM doesn't yet have a teammate for Bradley Smith, which could come from the marque's current troika of test riders (Alex Hofmann, Randy de Puniet or Mika Kallio) or from a talented crop of Moto2 or Moto3  riders.

German Stefan Bradl is the hot tip to remain at Aprilia to partner Lowes, while Aleix Espargaro, who has clearly been out-performed by Vinales, has still been serviceable enough at Ecstar Suzuki to probably warrant a contract extension.

Suzuki, KTM and Aprilia should announce their final 2017 rosters soon, after which the Independent Teams should follow suit. One of those, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, has already signed Moto2 rider Jonas Folger (who has been in the doldrums ever since…), and is apparently waiting to hear whether Pol Espargaro will remain.

Aussie Jack Miller's two-year contract with HRC also ends at the end of 2016, so it's still unclear whether he (and teammate Tito Rabat for that matter) will be back at Marc VDS Honda in 2017, and the likes of Pramac Ducati (current riders are Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci) and LCR Honda (Cal Crutchlow) are also yet to declare their hand.

Complicating matters are that a number of Moto2™ riders are also looking to make the move up, such as Alex Rins and Johann Zarco, while there is some sublime talent in Moto3 which could do a 'Miller' and make the big jump straight to MotoGP and bypass the intermediate class. Names that stand out there include Brad Binder, Jorge Navarro and Romano Fenati.

And it wouldn't be a surprise to see someone like current Ducati world superbike factory rider Chaz Davies slip into a team like Pramac or Aspar Ducati, following a path that Eugene Laverty and Loris Baz have taken in recent seasons.

All the machinations should play out over the next four weeks, but here's what we know at the moment: