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Honda's 2022 started well two weeks ago in Qatar, with Pol Espargarò’s podium and Marquez’s 5th place. Those results are now a distant memory, replaced by the disappointing Mandalika GP. Things had started getting bad on Friday – when everyone realized that the RC213V wasn’t doing very well with the hard Michelin tires brought – up until Sunday, with Marc out of action after a bad fall in the warm-up and Pol in trouble during the race, especially because his visor had fogged up.
Team manager Alberto Puig’s opinion was obviously negative: “The feeling, speaking frankly, was not good at all. Point one, Marc had many crashes and couldn’t race. Point two, in the pre-season, we were very fast, and then suddenly Michelin changed the tire, and our bike also changed completely. We still don’t fully understand what happened, and we’ll have to thoroughly discuss the tire situation with Michelin. To go from being very, very fast one month ago to the situation we’re in this weekend, it’s very difficult for our riders to be consistent and have confidence. Overall, we can’t be happy.”
Everyone’s hoping that Marquez will be back in shape soon.
“The next step is his recovery,” Puig continued. “This weekend has been very hard. The crash in the warm-up, his fourth of the weekend, was a massive one. Right now, we want him to rest. We feel we took the correct decision under the circumstances of his crashes."
Espargarò only reached a 12th place.
"During the race, Pol had a big problem with his helmet," Alberto explained. "It seemed as if he couldn’t see well, and I think he’ll discuss this with his helmet supplier. Clearly, he wasn’t that fast but, from what he told us and the team after the race, he couldn’t see starting from the first lap. With such a massive amount of water, from being in a group of four or five riders, if you can’t see, you have no chance. It wasn’t a good result for him."
Now they have a week off, then the American double with Argentina and Texas.
“There’s never anything normal in racing, and you can never expect anything," Alberto continued. "We came here a few weeks ago, we were fast, and now we’re slow. Let’s see. We need to understand what happened with the Michelin tire. We need to have a conversation with them. The next races are at circuits that have been good for Marc and for Honda in the past. We hope that Marc is better and that we can do our best when we get there."
