Point of view: Honda MotoGP: No more laughing, Alberto Puig arrives

Puig (pronounced Poutch, in Catalan), who will celebrate his 51st birthday this January 16, replaces Livio Suppo as team manager of the Honda Repsol MotoGP team on behalf of the HRC under the orders of Tetsuhiro Kuwata, while continuing to direct the Asian and British Talent Cups. We hope for those who will have to put up with him at Honda that his character has calmed down a little, because he has left some less than diplomatic memories.

Alberto completed 7 seasons in 250 cc GP, including 3 complete ones, on Rieju, Honda, Yamaha and Aprilia. Between Assen 4 and Jarama 1987 he was on the podium 93 times, but never on the top step. He then participated brilliantly in 4 seasons in 4 cm500. He was very good in 3 (fifth in the Championship) then until the French GP in 1994, when he fell from his machine at the entrance to the Dunlop Speed Bump at Le Mans while his Honda NSR continued to roll. It was all the more a shame as his 1995 career had just taken off in a big way with victory at home at the Spanish GP, plus two podiums at Mugello and Assen in 500 races, for his rookie season. His year was over, and although he raced again in '7 and '96, the results were never the same, with the sole exception of third place at Le Mans in '97.

Since the end of his Grand Prix career after the 1997 season, Puig has played an active role in the development of the career of Casey Stoner, Toni Elias and more particularly Dani Pedrosa, of which he was the personal manager until 2013. Pedrosa continues his collaboration with Sete Gibernau this year, after parting ways with the management of Wasserman (formerly Wasserman Media Group).

Puig can sometimes be cynical in his statements, rude, unpleasant, and never shy in exposing his thoughts. At the time when Pedrosa shared the Repsol Honda stand with Nicky Hayden, he spared no attack on the Kentucky rider: “The only thing I can say is that Hayden may be bothered by no longer being able to access Pedrosa's telemetry data. He improved his driving a lot when he had all of Dani’s references at his disposal, and now he can’t…”

“He just copied because he was never able to tune his bike. A professional pilot cannot complain because he cannot access the other pilot's information. He must seek the best for himself, it is his job, it is not up to the other to do it for him.”

Hayden didn't even lift a finger to comment.

He was content to have a small sticker made which he applied to the fairing of his motorcycle at the following GP, before the HRC asked him to remove it.

Now, Alberto Puig will not only have to coordinate the team's stand, but also manage the contractual future of Marc Marquez in relation to Honda (will he be able to persuade him to stay? And how?) and that of Dani Pedrosa (will he prefer a young talent?)

Less than two years ago, Alberto spared no criticism from his ex-student Pedrosa. “ I don't know what he's doing, the current data compared to recent years has shown a sharp collapse. But Honda had its reasons to renew with him for two more years: a negative race can happen but when it happens often, it harms mentally ". Currently, his preference for Marquez is no secret: “ If the bike was a disaster as they say, Marc would not be the winner of the World Championship ". This sometimes abrupt side meant that at a certain time Honda preferred the diplomacy and trickery of Livio Suppo. We then appreciated the forms of expression of traders, like Jarvis at Yamaha or Ciabatti at Ducati. But Alberto Puig has other talents, and a very clear way of expressing them. It could get interesting.

Years after Casey Stoner retired from racing, he published an autobiography called Pushing The Limits. In it, Stoner recounts his relationship with Alberto Puig, who helped him at the start of his career in Spain and the United Kingdom.

Stoner wrote about the time when he worked with Puig, he (Stoner) finished a few positions away from victory. Stoner wrote that Puig asked him why he didn't win. Stoner responded that this was the best his bike and tires could do and that he also couldn't safely pass the riders in front of him. According to Stoner's book, Puig told Casey he had to crash into anyone to win.

After the infamous incident where Dani Pedrosa knocked down the late Nicky Hayden at Estoril in 2006 (Pedrosa and Hayden were teammates, Hayden was leading the World Championship), Pedrosa's manager Alberto Puig was reacting to worldwide criticism of Pedrosa for knocking down his teammate by attacking and criticizing Nicky Hayden for the incident, saying it was Hayden's fault even though the latter was clearly leading when the pair entered the corner. At the time, many suspected Puig of ordering Pedrosa to ram Hayden, an allegation Pedrosa denied.

Alberto's fall at Le Mans in 1995: