WorldSBK Champion and BT Sport MotoGP Commentator Neil Hodgson says Honda’s current struggles in MotoGP cannot be attributed to Marc Marquez’s injury on the grid alone “.
Honda had its worst season in the premier class of motorcycle racing in 2020, marking an abrupt end to a run in which it had clinched six MotoGP titles in the past seven seasons.
Each of these titles was attributed to Marc Marquez, but after failing his season in the first round due to an injury, Honda found themselves unable to continue the coat with a rider quartet of Alex Marquez, Stefan Bradl, Takaaki Nakagami and Cal Crutchlow spirited RC213V designed to meet Marquez’s unique needs.
On the subject of matching items
Marquez has since returned for the 2021 MotoGP season, but neither he nor his new teammate Pol Espargaro have shown any noticeable form, revealing Honda’s problems much deeper than previously feared.
For Hodgson, he believes Marquez’s innate talent made a huge difference to Honda’s competitiveness, thereby masking his compromises, which was attributed to Jorge Lorenzo’s difficult year on the sister bike in 2019 when he replaced Dani Pedrosa.
However, with a lack of strength and mobility on the bike, Marquez is now discovering how difficult the RC213V is for others to drive and why Hodgson believes Honda – without Marquez making the difference – ended up on the grid with the worst bike.
“The problem is when you’re so far away … the bike is the worst bike on the grid,” he told Visordown in an exclusive interview. “It’s bizarre to think of the six manufacturers that the Honda is the bike you don’t want to ride. I’d rather jump on the Aprilia first!
“Because the gap is so big, they have to find something pretty big, and in a test… it can help get direction, but it usually doesn’t fix it that way. You have a long drudgery ahead of you.
“The problem is because Marquez has been so good in the past that I think the Honda has been below Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki for a number of years, but Marquez made that difference because of his capabilities.
“Now with his injury… I think the Honda is worse and Marc is obviously not the same Marc because of his injury. So he tries to bridge that gap again, and suddenly they can’t even catch up with them, let alone before them. I think that was the main problem. “
“I have a terrible feeling that he’s going to crash this weekend”
Ahead of the German MotoGP this weekend at the Sachsenring, where Marquez took a spectacular ten wins during his GP career, Hodgson believes that this will even be crucial in seeing where both Honda and Marquez are in terms of performance and Fitness stand.
“Marc’s brain still says the right things, he hasn’t lost his wishes, his desires, his talent, but his body can’t quite do it. If your body position or reaction is just a fraction of that, you are at the bottom.
“These guys are obviously at the limit and Marquez lived at the limit, that’s why he fell so many times. It only needs to be 1% off, but that’s a crash, and that’s what we’re seeing – and I have a terrible feeling that it’s going to crash this weekend.
“He’s so good at the Sachsenring, it’s a big lap for Honda, for him, can he win on a track where he hasn’t been beaten in the last 10 years? What will he do, try more? If he tries harder, he’ll go under …
“By the way, I hope I’m wrong! I would love to see him and Honda get a result, but I don’t think it will happen. “
BT Sport is the home of MotoGP in the UK. Experience the action of the GP of Germany exclusively live on BT Sport, including training, qualifying and races. The weekend’s promotion starts on Friday June 18 at 8 a.m. on BT Sport 2