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The last time Stefan Bradl wore LCR team colours was five years ago, when he replaced Crutchlow for two Grands Prix in 2018. In Lucio Cecchinello's team, the German had also made his MotoGP debut in 2012. "It's nice to come back again and wear these colours again. It's family for me, we've always been in contact, and I know all the guys - says the Honda test rider with satisfaction - I'm happy to join them, but of course I wish Alex a speedy recovery. I don't know how many races I've done replacing injured riders, we will try to do our best in the meantime, and we all know that the situation is not going to be easy. All we can do is try to stay calm, do our job and trying to stay healthy.”
You're back on the track at a difficult time for Honda, Marquez also gave up at the Sachsenring.
“A lot of respect because he's still giving his 100%, even more. Even though he realises that the bike and the tools he has are not ready for that level. But he's trying, you know. I hope that he can stay healthy and he's good to ride this weekend and his approach is going to be the same probably. We will not change an eight-time world champion in terms of how he has to ride the bike. Maybe this circuit is going to be a little bit better, but realistically speaking it's going to be hard to fight for the podium. In the meantime, I cannot give him advice, but I would like him to take controllable risk.”
Why has he crashed so much?
“He has taken so many risks, his level and his skills are incredibly high, but he also knows that we must stay calm and try to get back to a decent level step by step. It will take time."
Even a revolution?
“I think it can be fixed and I'm sure also Honda has the power and the equipment to do so. But it is a matter of time. I think we have seen that our performance was not dropping massively in 1-2-3 months. It was a process over some years I would say and now we will take probably a similar time to get back at a decent level.”
You have arrived from two days of testing at Misano.
“A day and a half, because I had to leave to come here. I tried some material to use this season and some things turned out to be useful, I think we could use them already in this GP, but nothing crazy. It won't completely change our bike. We did some experiments on the electronics, which isn't the most fun job for a test rider, but I looked at the big picture and tried to help improve rider safety."
Would Honda need something crazy?
“Yes, but we all know the Japanese mentality and you can't expect to change a company in a week”.
Can you have confidence in the RC213V?
“I have not been riding the bike since the Monday test in Jerez. So I jumped on the bike in Misano and after 3-4 laps I realised the weaknesses of the bike, that in lean angle we're not feeling confident at all. We need to push on the front and everything we are doing is not coming natural. We have played around with electronics… But it's not the electronics, in my opinion, that are holding us back, what we all need is much more grip on the rear tyre. In all areas. The problem is that you don't have confidence and you must take risks even when the bike is not right, because the new format requires it. This makes everything even more difficult for us. I know where the weak point of the bike and that’s how I'm going to ride it. I'm not trying to destroy myself this weekend and it's kind of a surviving time we have right now. How long will be this surviving time, I cannot tell you...”
