The 2024 season was particularly short on decent results for Honda, which among the manufacturers raked in just 75 points in the premier class. In the factory HRC team, world champion Joan Mir on the RC213V scored 21 points, complete with 10 retirements and numerous crashes during the season, finishing among the Honda riders only ahead of Marini. In fact, the two LCR satellite team riders Zarco and Nakagami did better, with the Frenchman leading the way at the season finale with good top 10 finishes, a further snub for the image of the golden wing manufacturers.
On this matter, Honda HRC team manager Alberto Puig gave MotoGP.com his view of the 2024 season, between difficulties and future prospects.
"It has not been easy, clearly," said Puig, "the results are not what we want. It has been a year that in the first part we were trying many things and solutions, and in the second part of the year we more or less had an idea of what can work or not. We made some improvements, not as much as we would have liked, but we made some improvements and we are in constant research of how to prepare next year's machine. But from our engineering point of view, the engineers are understanding more and more how to proceed, where to go and how we have to do, which is important. But this probably takes time to see the results, the reality on the paper. The only thing we never lost was our will to come back, this is the will that drives you to keep going even though we are clearly behind and this is a fact."
Particular is the situation of top rider Joan Mir, who notched up many crashes on the RC213V last season.
"Joan is already a world champion in MotoGP, so the current situation is not so comfortable for him. The bike is not at the level. He is trying, he has had some crashes obviously, when you are a champion, you are pushing, you want to have the result, but still things could not match. I hope he can keep his motivation, even in difficult times."
It has also been a difficult and unfulfilling season for Luca Marini, whose contract expires in 2025. It has to be said, however, that his sensitivity on the bike and his analytical skills seem to be highly valued by the Japanese manufacturer's engineers, in addition to his human qualities that help to cope better with such an intricate time for the Japanese manufacturer.
"Marini is very analytical and does not put limits on his work, he could work 24 hours because he loves what he does. Irrespective of the professional side, from a human point of view he is also fantastic, very polite and respectful and we are happy to have him with us."
New for next season will be the arrival of Aleix Espargarò, a veteran of Aprilia and the new Honda HRC test rider. With him and the arrival of Romano Albesiano, the future of HRC's development direction seems assured.
"Aleix is still a very fast rider, he has experience and will be a great help. Taka Nakagami will be too, he is also fast. As for Stefan Bradl, although he is not as fast as the two of them but he knows the bike and the team well, his work will help both of us to look for the performance we need. With this test team we are looking forward to a lot of cooperative work this season," the team manager later concluded.