Three MotoGP world champions suffer like never before. Its factories, the Japanese giants, do not seem to find an answer to their sorrows, not even after five weeks of stoppage and plenty of time to introduce considerable improvements. Marc Márquez and Joan Mir —eight and two world titles, respectively— once again finished on the ground with the factory Honda in Sunday’s race, the bike that has rolled on the gravel the most times this season (26 crashes in total, 13 for each one). Fabio Quartararo, who started last on the grid for the first time in his career, was climbing taking advantage of other people’s mistakes until a collision with Luca Marini when he was seventh sent him back to the bottom of the standings. Their respective teammates had no better day, and four Japanese motorcycles closed the test: the two official Yamahas first and the two satellite Hondas later.
They thought months ago that they had hit bottom, but they are still surprised at this point in the season. At the British GP they also held six of the last eight finish line positions on Saturday, crossing within half a minute of the winner just ten laps into the race. sprint. “It’s frustrating to see how slowly we’re going, pushing everything we can, and not just me. I see Joan, world champion, Marc, world champion… They are drivers who know how to drive very well, and it’s quite frustrating to see us finish 30 seconds behind”, acknowledged the French driver, 15th on Sunday.
Mir and Márquez reappeared at Silverstone with the intention of finally establishing a development base and specifying which of the various bikes they have been testing so far should help them in the future. More than a race, both Saturday and Sunday were planned as training. Once again, the conclusions were bleak. “This bike is not good in any area. We have to win in electronics, traction and aerodynamics, but if we don’t have any improvement, without the help of Honda, we will be like that in every race”, warned the Spaniard.
Despite a fall that he considered acceptable due to the changing conditions, Márquez wanted to see the glass half full. “We were going better than expected,” he said of a race in which he finished 10th. “We have met the objective of having a stable weekend. I am satisfied with myself and with the team, ”he assured, emphasizing the good role of his technical manager Santi Hernández and his other trusted men in the garage. Márquez is satisfied at this point with not hurting himself, the memory of his four fractures in six races before the holidays still fresh. “What happened in Germany must be worth something,” he recalled.
“This mentality is not the one I like, but to go back to being the one I was before I have to start somewhere. I have to do this weekend, forget about the time screens. The time will come to push ”, he agreed on his evident conservative turn and on the strategy on the motorcycle.
