Although Honda is trying to make progress in the MotoGP World Championship, it is clear that it still has a long way to go to get out of its current crisis of results. The gold wing manufacturer is making some progress with some improvements, but all the factory riders are waiting for important updates in the second half of the 2024 campaign that will finally lift them out of stagnation and bring them to the fore.
In the meantime, the two Repsol riders and the two LCR riders have to make do with small modifications to the RC213V and deal with a long list of problems, which Luca Marini illustrated at the end of the British Grand Prix,
Ahead of the Austrian GP, where the Japanese, Joan Mir’s teammate, highlighted some of Honda’s incompleteness, starting with the cornering speed that Honda is able to maintain. In this sense, HRC still has some way to go compared to its rivals on the grid.
“The most significant thing in the comparison [con le altre moto] “It’s the way it turns in the corners,” began the rider who races with the number 10 on his fairing. “The factory Ducati has more speed, as does the Aprilia, especially the 2024 version. The cornering on that bike is incredible, and we are not able to do that.”
“We need to brake a little earlier, press the front brake longer and slow down in the middle of the corner to position the bike correctly. This is the main problem at the moment, but you can’t solve it by changing the riding style. It can help, but it’s not enough. We need to work on it and find something new.”
On the other hand, the race starts could also be improved: “In the first laps we were very far behind. After that, we lose about half a second per lap compared to the group, not to the leaders. But in the first laps we are already several seconds behind. We need to understand how to put enough power into the rear tyre and how to make it work at the end of the race. At the moment, in qualifying, we are more or less able to do a good lap with a soft tyre. But when you use a harder compound, you always suffer.”
However, things have improved with the Honda’s rear grip: “It’s not our main problem anymore. Maybe it’s the fourth problem on the list, but it’s still a problem. I think it happens to everyone, there’s never enough grip. But we’ve made some changes for the better on the bike with the new material we brought, and we have more grip on the rear. Of course, it’s not enough compared to the Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. At the moment, I don’t think that’s slowing us down.”
And even the engine, which is now less powerful to expect a strong step forward, does not seem to be a too decisive flaw: “The engine is good. It’s not bad, even if we need speed, a little more torque. But if you ask a Ducati rider, he will tell you the same thing.”
As the races went by, Marini’s confidence grew significantly. In fact, at Silverstone he had one of his best races as a Honda rider. Valentino Rossi’s brother confirmed the change for the better: “It’s not just one thing, it’s everything. I’ve made a lot of progress in my riding and I’m trying to adapt to Honda’s needs to be fast. When you come from another brand, at the beginning it’s very difficult to work only on instinct, because you reproduce what you did last year, but maybe this is not the best way to work with our bike at the moment. In this sense I’ve reached a very good level. I’m able to exploit the bike’s strengths while avoiding the weak points.”
“The bike has also evolved a lot, we have made progress by changing the set-up. It is not easier to ride, but I enjoy riding it. When I want to be faster, it is easier for me now, because we have come closer to the concept of the bike that I have in mind. I can enjoy it more, I can try to be faster and the innovations introduced by HRC have allowed me to improve the performance, just like the other riders on the bike. Even if it is not enough yet, these three elements together give us more performance,” he added.
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