Repsol Honda boss Alberto Puig says the team will wait to see how Alex Marquez performs in the opening round of the late 2020 MotoGP World Championship season before deciding to extend it to 2021.
The reigning Moto2 world champion will move up to the premier class in 2020 after having reached the seat vacated by Jorge Lorenzo when he unexpectedly set the time for his racing career at the end of 2019.
The last-minute nature of the deal means Marquez has had a steep learning curve in testing so far, with some off-track errors hampering him during post-season testing, while his pre-season efforts were mitigated by the RC213V, which turned out to be a handful turned out of the box.
Because of this, the younger Marquez spent much of the early Sepang and Qatar races at the bottom of the timesheets.
On the subject of matching items
With the current protracted break in racing, which has thwarted any hope of increasing his dynamism in the first few laps, Marquez is now facing some pressure to start the race when the race finally starts, most likely on July 19th in Jerez .
In an interview with GPOne.com, Puig hints that Honda will not follow the path of Yamaha and Suzuki by confirming its MotoGP rider line-up for 2021 before the race starts again to give them a fair chance at Marquez ‘performance to rate.
On the subject of matching items
“It wasn’t an easy start for Alex. I’m sure we can give him another bike, we already have it in mind. It won’t be easy for him, but if he can get more comfortable on the Honda he can start to show his potential.
“He has a year of contract, so it seemed right to give him the opportunity. Now we’re waiting to get back on track and see what he can do. “
Alex Marquez with something to prove to Honda
The long delay in the process is a particular problem for a driver like Alex Marquez.
The Spaniard came into the season with pressure on his shoulders, both because he joined a title-winning team and, unfortunately, he has this last name.
It’s hard to read in pre-season tests, but there were days when Marquez appeared to be at sea and at no point did it look like he was breaking into the top 15. In his defense, he starts from a standstill in MotoGP and Honda doesn’t. I’m not helping by showing up on a new bike that was spirited even in Marc Marquez’s hands.
The long hiatus will hit him more than most and he will be forgiven for keeping his expectations modest in the opening laps, but during those events, Honda will have to make a decision whether to keep him for 2021.
On the other hand, Honda has confidence in Marquez and wants to take care of him. Provided he can get a look at both the track and it, he’ll stay in pole position to keep up that drive for at least another year.