The development of the RC213V is a real subject at Honda which, for two years, seems to have lost track. In fact, the Tokyo firm lost the Marc Marquez who could compensate for everything on this bike which therefore only shone with him. But as it says Kevin schwantz, the situation has changed: for the moment, Marc Marquez has become a normal person again but the bike remains a problem. So it doesn't work, except at the Sachsenring, the scene of a new individual exploit by the eight-time World Champion. The latter says what he thinks of a motorcycle left for nine months with teammates while the newcomer Pol Espargaró also has a particular opinion on what he discovered with this new employer whom he was nevertheless happy to join. …
Listen carefully to the two official drivers Honda, we sense a frosty atmosphere in the ranks of the HRC. And the internal criticisms are thinly veiled. Take the case of Marc Marquez who is quite direct about the situation he found after nine months spent in treatment, and therefore far from the Repsol box. We thus discover his words on Motorsport : " in the first races after my return I was not able to understand the bike, but as soon as I could I saw that something was strange. I did analyzes with the whole team to see precisely what the Honda engineers had done, what they had done in Qatar. There were some things, and all the drivers liked them, but the performance stayed the same or got worse ».
Marc Marquez: “if you like something, you have to make it faster”
A clear observation which leads to this merciless verdict: “ but if we like something, it has to make it faster. We started looking at all this and At one point I said 'I want to go back to something I know', and so it was back to 2019 or Jerez 2020 ". Once the lesson has been given to his teammates, he concludes: “ race after race, if we have time, we will test new features already used by other drivers and I will try to adapt my driving style to them. This is what we have been doing since Le Mans, little by little. At the Sachsenring, it was really 'my' bike. Now, we are going to test these things already tried by others, but to find a solution for 2022, not to progress this year ».
Pol Espargaro: “Honda doesn’t work as hard as the others”
So much for the old man's opinion. Let us now look at the new eye of Pol Espargaro, who took up residence this year at Honda, after four years spent at KTM. The Spaniard doesn't mince his words either, but his remarks are more aimed at Tokyo... On Todocircuito we thus discover: “ When I first saw the Honda, I said 'this is my bike, my riding style'. Everyone says the Honda is a difficult bike to ride, but for me it's not the case, all bikes are difficult. You have to work a lot, it all depends on your riding style which will make you work more or less on this or that bike. In my case, I like Honda's riding style ».
The team driver Repsol Honda points out that in recent years at HRC they have interrupted certain lines of development, thus losing a lot of ground compared to their main rivals: “ It's interesting to see where Honda was in the past and see where they are now. We have traction problems, the change in tire casing meant that Honda didn't adapt like the others. Honda development has stagnated a bit over the past two years ". Then he attacks: “ Honda doesn't work as hard as others. There are problems that I don't understand. Top drivers like Marc who have more experience were not there to tell the Japanese what was right and what was wrong, that's why we got a little lost ". We recall that during this incriminated period, there was still at work a certain Stefan Bradl who can feel totally disowned here
But as Marc Marquez follows his own path that he seems to be the only one who can follow, Pol Espargaro and others risk getting further lost until they find themselves in an impasse that Dani Pedrosa et Jorge Lorenzo know well. Incidentally, the three RC213V pilots who are Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez et Marc Marquez are those who have fallen the most since the start of this season.
