The Honda rider opted for the soft rear tire, with only the four Honda runners choosing that option for Sunday’s 20-lap race at Silverstone.
Espargaro turned his first Honda pole at the start into the holeshot and ran early on the podium but was pushed back to fifth by the checkered flag – although this is still his best result of the year.
The Spaniard says the plan was to have fun the first half of the race and then see where his soft tire was for the final laps, but after the middle distance his rubber was “pretty dead” and this completely changed his expectations .
Espargaro is confident that without the dramatic tire drop he had enough pace late to finish on the podium.
“In any case, you always earn a little more, that’s natural for a person,” said Espargaro when asked by Motorsport.com whether he was disappointed to miss the podium.
“But in the end we knew our ability with the soft rear tire to enjoy until the middle of the race and then see what happens afterwards and survive.
“I mean, our prediction was dashed because the right side of the tire was pretty dead after a little over half the race distance, about two more laps after mid-race.
“It was impossible to take the fast corners, to enter the fast corners at a higher speed, because the rear was blocking and moving quite a lot.
“Of course I wanted more because I think I had the speed of the top guys. Maybe not [Fabio] Quartararo, but definitely on the podium. “
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Espargaro says that the fact that all Hondas chose the soft rear tire while the rest of the field was in midfield “shows the situation” that HRC riders are facing with the current bike’s grip issues in 2021.
“I felt good and at some point I even caught my brother and Alex [Rins]but they went.
“But the tire gave up and in the end the situation is what it is.
“The four Hondas used the soft tire in the back, we were the only ones. That shows the situation we are in, which is typical and not like the others.”