MotoGP | The “Japanese style” conditions Honda’s development

We are now used to citing Japanese culture to explain the current difficulties of Honda and Yamaha in MotoGP, due to their reticence in implementing sudden changes and particular attention to detail. Overtaken by their European rivals, the two brands have changed their focus, adopting some of the methods that have made Ducati, KTM and Aprilia triumph in recent seasons.

Behind the push of Fabio Quartararo, the Iwata company has recruited several key members of Ducati and is introducing a large number of new improvements. Honda also tries to develop its RC213V regularly and does not hesitate to try new concepts. However, the Winged House maintains a relatively cautious work focus.

Takaaki Nakagami, who complained last year that development of his bike was too slow, notes that things are evolving more quickly than last year, but thinks a lot of time is still wasting until a new part arrives at a Grand Prix, even after being approved in a test. The Japanese also underlines that HRC is still reticent when it comes to making large-scale changes and experiments.

“I understand that it can easily be said that there is a Japanese style, this means that even for a screw, the pieces must be precise. The engineers have to understand the performance and are careful about it,” explained the LCR Honda rider. “This is why it takes a long time to develop and bring in new pieces.”

“Even though we are trying a lot of things right now, the quantity is not important. If a pilot says something is good, there’s only a unit or two at most. So we can’t use it on a race weekend. It takes a long time to decide and, once you have decided that that is the direction to follow, more time is needed.”

So, despite the riders agreeing on an improvement or an update, the Japanese maintains that Honda is still cautious: “The good thing is that all four of us riders make almost the same comments and requests when we have problems. I think it’s pretty clear for engineers what we need to improve to make progress. But in a week we don’t have a totally different specification, you need time. It’s a bit like the Japanese style, very cautious. The priority is that it is safe, performance comes second.”

This culture is familiar to Nakagami because he is Japanese, but it is new to Luca Marini, who joined the Repsol Honda team this year after his experience at Ducati. The driver from Tavullia refrains from making direct comparisons between the two brands, given that until last year he had raced in a satellite team. Therefore he considers the two realities “totally different” but does not see HRC’s methodical focus as a problem.

“When you test with a satellite team, you just focus on pure performance, you try setups, you try to be faster,” says Marini. “So now the work is completely different. But you have to trust the Japanese. Their method is different than that of Italian engineers, but they are very precise and strong. They want to understand everything well. Furthermore, it is part of the pilot’s job to try to explain the problems and share comments as best as possible. I think we have a very good connection, we will grow a lot together.”

#10 understands this vision of making sure everything is working properly before taking it to the race: “Their focus is wanting to understand everything. They want to make sure everything works before taking it to the track and risk something breaking and causing a problem for the driver. They just need the rider to explain everything very well and be able to understand the situation and share his opinion as best he can, explaining how he feels on the bike. They don’t need a pilot who shouts about problems,” concludes Marini.