Honda is having a tough 2021 season as all four of its drivers on its factory team and LCR battled for form on the latest RC213V.
Takaaki Nakagami achieved Honda’s best ever result in 2021, finishing fourth at the Spanish GP, while none of his works team drivers Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro have cracked the top six.
This puts Honda fifth in the manufacturers’ championship and only three points ahead of Aprilia.
MotoGP introduced the concession system back in 2016 to give new and troubled manufacturers a chance to compete, with Ducati, Aprilia, Suzuki and KTM all benefiting from the concessions during this time.
In 2021 only Aprilia remains as a concession manufacturer, which allows her to use unlimited private tests with her racing drivers and nine engines during one season, which they can freely develop.
Those who do not qualify for concessions have to complete a season with seven engines and these engines are frozen at the beginning of the campaign, so cannot be developed during the season.
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Even non-concession manufacturers are not allowed to conduct private test days with their racing drivers.
Concession manufacturers are also allowed to use six wildcard entries during a season, while those without wildcard entries are only allowed to have three.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is severely affecting the 2020 season, MotoGP decided to prevent manufacturers from winning concessions during the course of the year regardless of the results – although they could still lose them, as was the case with KTM’s Case was.
This rule change prevented Honda from becoming a concession maker for 2021 if it ended the 2020 season without a podium – despite Alex Marquez eventually taking two podiums in France and Aragon.
Honda’s 2022 concessions would have a significant impact on the grid, especially if it were able to build a more competitive bike that would allow a fully fit Marc Marquez to be a championship contender.