After bottoming out in 2020 without Marc Márquez, the return of the Spaniard after missing the first two grands prix of 2021 did not help Honda take flight either. The eight-time world champion returned far from his best version after nine months off and three operations. The #93 found a complicated bike that in his physical condition was unable to get the most out of it.
Márquez was recovering the tone as the championship progressed. From the middle of the season at the Sachsenring – where he won – until the end he achieved three wins and finished as the best Honda in the championship (7th), despite another untimely eye injury that also caused him to miss the last two races.
Honda closed the course with two other podiums – for Márquez and Pol Espargaró – as the most outstanding results. Some numbers well below expectations for the second consecutive year of the most successful manufacturer in MotoGP.
“We can’t say that the balance is good, that’s clear,” admits Alberto Puig to the official MotoGP website. “We started the season without Marc in shape, it took him a while to get back to his level. Pol found it difficult at first to understand the bike. For a company like Honda, HRC , with a long history, many victories, it has not been a good balance We have been able to win some races and get podium finishes, but that is not our goal.”
“Of course we had a lot of incidents and problems during this time. With the riders, we’ve also been struggling with the bike at a lot of circuits, so in general it didn’t go as expected. Probably the worst thing is that Marc felt that he didn’t recover as we expected, as he expected. Also the problem at the end of the year was unexpected. Let’s hope for a better 2022 and the future, “he adds.
In his first season with Honda, Espargaró went from less to more. After a difficult start, he managed to close the year with a pole and a podium, although he finished outside the top 10 (12th) in the standings.
“For Pol it was a difficult start to the season. He expected one type of bike and found another. During the year he understood the bike. He was able to take pole position at Silverstone and in the Misano test we changed the bike a lot for him, since From there I recover his level. He is a fast rider. I think that now he is understanding the bike more and it is important”, says the former Barcelona rider.
HRC’s problems extended to the drivers of the LCR team as well. In the case of Alex Márquez, he did not manage to repeat the podiums of his debut in 2020, but he was fighting for him in the penultimate race in Portimao.
“Alex has had some falls this year. He has returned to his level of last year. The pity is that the year is over, he couldn’t continue growing. Let’s hope he starts the year from higher positions”, ditch Puig.
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