Honda: Mir hit by Morbidelli, Marini still without points

Honda still in crisis

One of the darkest periods in the team's history never stops Repsol Hondain obvious difficulty even on the occasion of Portuguese Grand Prix. Out of the points with both of its drivers in the Sprint, Sunday's race ended with Joan Mir in 12th positionthe best for the Spaniard after the first two GPs but at the same time favored by the crashes of Bagnaia, the former Marquez and Viñales at the end.

In points despite the damage

However, the Iberian driver must be given credit for a good recovery achieved after the start, with his RC213V damaged following a contact. The 12th place finish, however, does not erase the concerns about an increasingly evident decline in competitiveness of the official team of the Japanese manufacturer: “On the first lap we had a strong contact with Morbidelli, my suit on the right side was almost completely black and the bike took a lot of damage and I ran wide. It was quite difficult to manage all the damage, but even so we managed to keep the pace of the guys fighting for the top ten. The key point we need to work on is improve our qualifications to avoid this type of accident. All the team members and HRC have done a great job to improve the situation compared to Friday, so I want to thank them.”

Marini still without any points

The adventure is still completely devoid of satisfaction Luca Marini at Honda. The former VR46, despite a good start, was unable to go beyond 15th position, the last one valid for the points zone. Despite the aforementioned falls at the end, the rider from the Marche region finished at 17th place, also obtaining in this case the best result of the season. As a result, after two GPs, Marini is still at zero points: “We did one better race than Qatar and also than the Sprintand I'm happy with the changes made to the bike – has explained – I enjoyed riding towards the end of the race and this was a good step forward. Joan Mir has a better feeling on the bike and certainly more experience, so she is able to be more effective, she is motivating, and we have to study what she is doing. It's a positive weekend, despite the result, because we got a lot of useful information and we know which are the areas to follow and those in which we must not intervene with the setting. There is room to continue to improve.”