Alberto Puig left Malaysia with his head down like the rest of his Honda troops of which he is usually so proud. But this race at Sepang marked the penultimate stage of a season at the end of which, and barring a miracle in Valencia, the world's leading manufacturer will have to prepare to finish last in the manufacturers' standings in MotoGP, without ever to have been able to achieve a single victory in 20 Grands Prix. But maybe that's not the worst. Because by taking stock before the time, the Repsol Honda team manager brings us a speech on an imperative overhaul to be made to the HRC which we believed to be assimilated to Japan. A worrying redundancy.
The only reassuring thing validated in recent days for the adventure MotoGP de Honda, is that the funds will continue to be supplied by Repsol until 2024, a year in which it will absolutely be necessary to present a different face than at the end of 2022. Indeed, at this deadline, it is not only the Spanish brand that will be thinking about what comes next. There will also be a Marc Marquez at the end of the contract.
However, for the moment, we have a Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaro who are counting the days that separate them from their release from an openly rejected RC213V. So much so that even the next generation of Japanese Ai Ogura refused it, preferring to do one more year in Moto2. This shows the extent of the disavowal. Alberto Puig is not fooled by it: “ it's not easy when you have frustrations and it's clear that a certain number of our pilots are frustrated » he commented. “ We know how difficult the Sepang circuit is for us, we've known it for a long time. But this weekend was the confirmation, especially in terms of power, that we have a lot to do to improve ».
Alberto Puig: “we obviously don't have the pace with which we can win a Grand Prix"
And he arrives at this obvious fact which has been noted for a long time by most but which must cost a lot to the Spaniard who is so proud of his colors: “ we obviously don't have the pace with which we can win a Grand Prix. We cannot pretend to have the rhythm to fight for victory so that in the end, we are where we are and it's not where we should be ". All right but Marc Marquez came back and we have since seen a lot of new things, inspiration Ducati, arrive on his motorbike. Has the march forward been initiated yet? Or even…
Marc Marquez commented that he did not have this Honda in his hand and that even if we worked hard at HRC, this involvement did not necessarily have performance as a corollary. If we add to that the words ofAlberto puig, we realize that everything is not yet perfectly aligned at Honda… “ HRC engineers think and work. We don't need a modification, we need a change, speaking of technique, to take the step ". He even insists: “ we know we have to improve. We can't expect the pilot to do everything. We must understand that we must change, and change for the better, not just a modification ».
Time is running out, 2023 is already upon us and this speech should have already been assimilated. But there is something of a doubt with this repetition. Waiting for, Alberto puig is preparing to eat its hat in Valencia, pointing its beloved brand to last place in the manufacturers' ranking, and without the slightest achievement: " obviously, we are not happy at all. The only thing we can do is improve. We must understand that we are not competitive and react to it. Then everything will be fine. It's the race ". And she is ruthless.
