As usual on Mondays after the race weekend, the Spaniard Alberto Puig , Honda’s team manager in the grand prix, offers his vision as a summary of the weekend. The former rider admitted that the balance of the race in Portugal was not what he expected and that they lacked training time in dry conditions to “understand the bike”.
“We have not had an easy race. We couldn’t get the perfect set-up and we probably needed more time to understand our bike on this track”, explains Puig.
“Certainly we didn’t have enough time in consistent conditions, but this is not an excuse because the other drivers and teams were fast with the same amount of time in the same conditions. We have to keep working and exploring the possibilities that we have in front of us”, he added.
The former rider involved in executive duties recognized that the final result of the Honda, with a better position for Marc Márquez in sixth place, does not fulfill the aspirations of the brand for this race.
“The positive point is that we are two points closer to the drivers’ championship lead, but the reality is that our performance was not as good as we expected here. Finishing 16 seconds behind the winner is not the goal. This is not good for us, and we have to improve,” he said self-critically.
Honda was the only brand that went out of the general script in the choice of tires, betting both Pol Espargaró and Alex Márquez on a hard rear compound, when the rest of the riders opted for the medium.
“Pol chose the hard tire and it went well for him. Marc opted for the middle. For their driving styles it was fine in Portugal and it was the right choice.”
With the Portimao chapter closed, the World Championship now heads to Jerez, where the Spanish Grand Prix will be held this coming weekend, the sixth stop in a championship in which Honda continues without a victory.
“Now we go to Jerez, a circuit where our riders have traditionally been fast. We have to wait and see what the situation is, aim to do a better race and try to understand if we are not with the group in the race. Portimao has shown that we have to improve our bike even more”, admitted the Catalan.
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