This Saturday in Jerez was not what one could call an excellent day for Honda who saw three of its five competing drivers fall, particularly during FP3. Stefan Bradl, Pol Espargaró and Alex Marquez got started, the latter experiencing a technical problem before his accident. The same trio remained stuck in Q1 and will be reminiscent of Marc Marquez's strange Friday day. For the moment, and with the pressure of losing his place at any moment, it is only Nakagami who is getting through the pitfalls. But the fact can be validated that the new RC213V is ultimately a failure. Marc Marquez is the first to proclaim it.
Among engineers Honda, this Spanish Grand Prix is the revealing meeting that they wanted to avoid. Their latest opus RC213V is not there. And Marc Marquez openly described his problems with the new Tokyo bike. He begins his remarks with a certain fatalism about his fifth performance at the end of qualifying: “ no, I'm not frustrated. Because frustration only arises when you raise your expectations too high ", declared the eight-time World Champion after losing almost a second on the best time of bagnaia. “ I was expecting a place on the third row of the grid today. Now I'm on the second. So I'm not disappointed. I know we are currently fighting for positions between 5 and 10. In the race we can move higher in the peloton. The podium will be difficult, but the top 5 is possible “, explained the Repsol Honda star.
Falls come from a lack of sensation with the front wheel: “ It’s one of the things that worries us. » says Marc Marquez. “ At least that's the case for me. I can't speak for the other Honda riders. I still don't understand where the limit is. For this reason I try to be very precise with the tires. So I have to ride carefully, otherwise I would fall very often. I can't afford to make mistakes, I can't do too much. This is the only way to ride at a consistent pace at the moment. But with a slow pace. "
Marc Marquez: “I wanted to survive in Q2 by following the faster drivers"
« It's true that our new bike is very different from previous machines, it requires a completely different way of riding. I mentioned yesterday that we wanted to radically rebuild the new bike for my riding style. But this bike cannot be adapted to my riding style” regrets the Spaniard. “So we went back to the previous settings. I am now back on the same basis as the other Honda riders. But it is true that in my personal case the problems are not resolved. We have a lot of difficulty with the front, the turn is done slowly. We need to figure out how we can improve. Because as soon as I push, I risk falling ».
Marc Marquez continued to follow in the wake of other fast drivers in Q2… “ Yes, Quartararo, Bagnaia, Miller were close to me. Fortunately, I have low expectations at the moment. Because usually you are very annoyed when you follow a top driver and you can't keep up. But I know we can't fight for victories. And I have to admit that the leaders were just faster than us everywhere today. They have a completely different speed. I followed the opponents because they ride at a different level. Today I wanted to survive Q2 with this method. Because alone, I could drive 1'39.3 or 1'39.4 min. But with a good wake, I was able to go two tenths faster.” This is called being in crisis...
MotoGP Spain J2: qualifying
Credit classification motogp.com
