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That Honda is in a predicament is no mystery. The winter tests have done nothing but reiterate the fact and the evidence can’t be hidden. “We have serious difficulties. We’re not hiding it. We don’t have the bike we’d like, but we’ll work hard. And, after a few months, I don’t know how many, we’ll have a winning bike,” Alberto Puig, Team Manager of the official team, said in and interview with Emilio Pérez Rozas of the Spanish newspaper El Periodico.
“Ducati and the other two European constructors, Aprilia and KTM, did a better job than we did. They managed to find the tricks, the secrets, the shortcuts to take advantage of the technical regulations and obtain a more competitive bike than ours. European constructors have been much more responsive, more creative, and more aggressive in designing their bikes. When their opponents succeed, you have to tip your hat, congratulate them,” the Spanish manager admitted.
A test of intellectual honesty. However, having a bike that doesn’t measure up to the best competition, doesn’t only mean suffering again, but also risking to lose the jewel in your crown: that Marc Marquez who’s now back in shape but with a bike that’s not up to his standards. His contract with Honda is going to expire at the end of 2024. Then what?
“Those are just rumors,” Puig replied. “Marc has been a Honda rider all his life and is very grateful to Honda, but we’re perfectly aware that, if we don’t give him a winning bike, we could lose him. This season’s results could condition Marc’s decisions in the immediate future. I think Marc knows Honda very well and knows that we won’t stop until they give him the bike he wants and deserves. I don’t know when this will happen and, when it will happen, if we’ll be in time or not to keep Marc. Honda’s dream is that he never leaves.”
Alberto knows what Marquez has been through in the last few years. The suffering he has had to face and the way he has done it. Many wonder if the injury to his arm will affect him. If he’ll think twice about taking risks like in the past.
“Marc became champion in 2017, falling twenty-seven times. Do you think Marc is going to change his style? Marc fell even when he had the best bike, because he only knows how to go fast and be the best, seeking the limit,” Alberto confirmed. “It’s obvious that a body has a memory, and when you suffer what Marc has suffered, you always carry it with you. This doesn’t mean that it prevents him from being as fast as before. It doesn’t mean that he’ll be slower, more cautious, less aggressive. It simply means – and he has explained it a thousand times in recent months – that he’s a different Marc from the one before the injury.”
In what way?
“He’s thirty years old and knows, better than anyone else, what to do on the track, when to take risks, and when not to take risks. He’s a more experienced Marc,” Puig concluded.
