At the start of the last Grand Prix of the 2020 MotoGP season, representatives of the six manufacturers involved in the premier category spoke to the press gathered virtually in Portimão.
In turn, everyone was able to take stock of their season before answering questions from journalists.
After Davide Brivio for Suzuki, Paolo Ciabatti for Ducati, Lin Jarvis for Yamaha et Mike Leitner for KTM, Alberto puig among other things explained that the absence of Marc Márquez did not allow Honda to make a clear analysis of the performance of the 213 RC2020V, despite all the efforts of the brand's owners!
A fine tribute to the talent and work of the unfortunately injured driver, when we know the traditional position of the Tokyo firm on this subject…
Alberto puig : " To be honest, when you're used to winning almost everything in recent years, and you win nothing like this year, it's clear that it's obviously not a good result! It's also clear that we had this problem with Marc at the start of the season and things didn't go in a good way, so it became very difficult. OK, at one point we understood that we wouldn't have him to have a chance to be competitive this year and even win a few races, but on the other hand we had a rookie who was Álex and we had to call a test pilot to take his place. For Álex, the start of the year was very difficult but suddenly, in the middle of the season, he took a big step forward, and at the same time, our test driver who was three seconds behind the top drivers suddenly became …let’s say acceptably fast. So we focused on that. Of course, it's not what we were used to but things were like that, and when things are like that you have to keep progressing. Nothing lasts forever and in a way we tried to do what we could with the bike to better understand the future. That's what we did. »
Not to mention the return of Marc Márquez, how satisfied are you with what you have learned this year on the bike?
« It's always a never-ending story between the Honda and the drivers (laughs). It's clear that we have a great rider who sometimes puts the bike in a position that people don't believe in. But if you look at what Álex has done this year with this bike, we're not so unhappy. Of course, like all manufacturers, we have had things that are clearly not good but we are trying to work. It is clear that the engine will be frozen next year and everyone has understood that, but we are happy because we think we have found a direction for the future. Of course, Álex will have more experience next year and Marc will be back, so we think we will be ready to fight. There is also Pol who, coming with many years of experience with KTM, will definitely help us. He will be very strong too, since they won.
In our case it is not very easy to make a clear assessment, because our experienced rider has not even done a single race with the bike. So it's true that we had some problems with the bike during the pre-season but ultimately we were able to sort it out in a way. It's not very easy. We have Nakagami who improved a lot with last year's bike and had a fantastic year, and we had Álex who progressed step by step with this year's machine. Sometimes when you work a lot with one package, you get to know it very well, and sometimes it's a trade-off. But from my point of view, regarding the situation this year with Marc, we do not have a 100% clear understanding, or let's say feedback, on the performance of our bike. We understand it in a basic way, because we have the opinion of Álex (Márquez) and the opinion of Cal (Crutchlow), and of course that of Stefan Bradl who our test driver, but to make a clear inventory is now difficult for us. »
How do you rate Stefan Bradl's performance this year, and will he continue to be a test driver next year?
« As for Stefan, he has made fantastic progress and we are very happy. So yes, we will continue with Stefan next year as test driver, because he has changed a lot. Of course, at the start of the year he was expecting to spend a year as a test pilot, and suddenly, because of the outbreak of Covid and Márquez, he had to change states. 'spirit. And he did it! It very quickly became fast, the truth is that we used it a lot with a lot of testing and racing. So he made a very good effort and Honda appreciated that, and the data we got from him is very interesting. So to answer your question, yes we will continue with Stefan as test driver next year. »
Do you know exactly the medical situation of Marc Márquez?
« The situation is as we have explained it. I can't say something I don't know, first of all because I'm not a doctor and I don't have a crystal ball. But what we explained is based on the program that we decided with the doctors, of course. Hopefully it will be OK. It's definitely been a slower process than we expected, and of course wanted, but that's how it is. Situations aren't always what you expect and injuries don't always progress the way you want them to. That's how it happened. I know we tried to explain the situation little by little because we always had the hope that Marc would return during the season. That’s why we didn’t say “OK, see you next year!” ". So we tried to monitor the situation but ultimately there was not enough time until the end of the year and it was impossible to make an announcement. So we hope that in the next few weeks, the next few months, we will be able to say that the pilot is back in full shape, but unfortunately I cannot answer you. I hope this happens. »
To be continued with Massimo Rivola for Aprilia…
here Paolo Ciabatti for Ducati
here Mike Leitner for KTM
Photo credit: MotoGP.com
