While Santi Hernandez spells out the bitter truth, Pol Espargaro ponders why things have gone backwards rather than forwards with Honda after strong winter testing
Where does Honda stand without its star Marc Marquez? Despite struggling with physical limitations since his return to MotoGP, he remained the best-performing rider, although even Marquez faced new problems on the revised RC213V for the 2022 season
Thereby so much hope had been placed in the new development, with which finally not only Marquez, but also other riders should be fast and capable of winning. But the opposite is the case. “There is no Honda in front,” Santi Hernandez, Marquez’s crew chief, tells the newspaper ‘AS’.
“You have to improve the bike, but it is also true that Marc was not 100 per cent fit and with full power the results could be different,” he believes.
“But for now we have to improve many aspects of the bike and try to understand what will happen when he comes back and give him the bike he deserves.” Until then, Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl will have to hold the fort.
Hernandez: Bradl will improve
With Bradl, Hernandez has already gained plenty of experience in recent years as Marquez’s replacement. “It’s not a new situation for us,” says the Spaniard. “We have seen this a few times since 2020. Stefan doesn’t have the race speed at the moment, but he will improve over time, like two years ago when he finished in the top 10 at the end of the season.”
“We have to try to find the speed and work with Honda on the development of the bike. It’s important to have a test rider to test the things that are needed,” Hernandez knows. He, too, probably didn’t expect the new bike to be such a headache for the team.
The manufacturer still made a strong impression in the pre-season tests and seemed to be positioning itself with the new development to fight for victories and possibly even the title. But after the first races of the season, there is nothing left of it.
Even for Pol Espargaro, who had been downright euphoric after the said tests at the beginning of 2022 and promptly rode onto the podium in Qatar, disillusionment has meanwhile set in. “Things are not going well. We are all in a negative dynamic, which is not conducive to results,” he says.
“But we have to keep working. That has to change because there are still many races ahead of us. We are not even halfway through the championship and there is still a chance to turn the tide,” the Spaniard practices a bit of purposeful optimism.
Good feeling from pre-season has fizzled out
“During the pre-season everything went pretty well,” he looks back and explains, “With KTM I used the biggest brake discs, pads and calipers that Brembo provided. The previous year with Honda we had to go down a notch, so I couldn’t use the rear brake like before.”
“Then in pre-season we moved in a direction that allowed me to use it better. I used bigger discs again, bigger pads. But since Indonesia we had to rebuild again and things are moving in the wrong direction. The worst thing is, we don’t know why.”
The Honda rider muses all the more: “I felt good on the bike in pre-season. But not only me, everyone was fast – Alex, Taka, even Marc felt good with the bike. It looked promising. In Qatar we had incredible pace, but now we are struggling. It’s hard to explain. “
