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Despite Luca Marini finishing the championship in 22nd place, followed only by those who participated as wild cards, he said he was extremely satisfied with his first experience with Honda. A statement that might seem excessive if not motivated by a consideration.
"The balance of the year if you think about where we started from is extremely positive. I would have liked to finish further ahead, but I realized early on that it would be difficult. There were improvements and the engineers worked very hard, so the bike took a big step forward. Four, five tenths we have made up, but we are missing as many, hopefully by the beginning of 2025 or during the year. Things are changing at the factory and everyone is working hard as are we riders who provided the information and the directions to the engineers," he said after crossing the finish line of the Montmelo GP in 16th place.
Already the next few days will see a return to the track. "After this test we will have another one in Jerez, I don't know what new things will be brought, but they will be crucial to have a first feedback of the new bike or at least the new parts. Testing on two different tracks is an opportunity."
The cool weather helped with tire wear. "The temperatures allowed us to use the softer one and at the same time we had three options instead of two. It must be said that Ducati is the only one able to use the softer compound. It has more grip and being strong in braking and corner entry it is able to manage it throughout the 24 laps, while we are forced to give everything on corner exit as well and cannot afford to administer. In any case between the medium and hard it still worked better the latter," he said.
Turning to Martin's newly obtained world title, the rider from the Marche was quite harsh. "I didn't expect it though definitely getting to the last race with so many points ahead makes it difficult to recover. Too bad for Bagnaia because he won so much. Unfortunately in the Barcelona Sprint in May he went down on the last lap, without that crash he would have won the World Championship. Anyway if you think about where you left the points it is worse, better to focus on 2025 when he will have a chance to prove he is among the greatest in history if he can beat Marquez, which I wish him. It' s a bad moment to live this for him because even though he made his 11 Grand Prix wins, people will remember Jorge's success."
When asked if the scoring should be changed, the HRC rider commented, "No, because since the Sprint Races were introduced what happened this year can happen. If they were not there Pecco would have had the upper hand. Whoever can take advantage of the Saturday races is at an advantage because they bring a lot of points and Martin is perhaps the best at that, being explosive, very strong in qualifying and being able to do very well the first few laps. The Sprint Races have changed everything and you have to adapt."
