MotoGP, Watanabe: “Marquez? Honda won't just ask him to stay"

While MotoGP has shut down its engines for the summer break, discussions continue on the future of the partnership between Marc Marquez and Honda, deeply marked by the difficulties of the Tokyo manufacturer. A crisis of results that has given rise to a series of doubts about the competitiveness of Honda and the permanence of the eight-time world champion, with rumours of a possible separation fuelled by the declarations of Marc Marquez and Alberto Puig at the press conference held in Assen.

Words reiterated by the president of HRC Koji Watanabe, who in the declarations reported by the Japanese edition of Motorsport.com further reaffirmed Honda's philosophy and the intention not to keep the Spanish rider against his will: “Of course we want to keep him. But in the end, he decides. If he decides to leave, we won't keep him - commented Watanabe - I think we will have to show him something concrete to convince him to stay. It's not like Honda to simply ask him to stay."

It is precisely to catch up with its rivals as soon as possible that the Japanese manufacturer has implemented a close collaboration between its two- and four-wheel divisions, incorporating the automotive racing department into HRC.

“Right now we're struggling in MotoGP, but we've just started working on the collaboration between the two and four-wheel divisions for development - explained the manager - We need to improve the chassis, aerodynamics and engine and we want to do this by also incorporating four-wheel technology. We don't want to say it's better, but by working together, we'll be able to adopt a different perspective."

A move that should lead to a significant improvement in the performance of the RC213V, but certainly not in time for the second part of the season.

“We want to catch up with our rivals as soon as possible. We will incorporate various aspects step by step, but basically we will put them into next year's bike. It could still be difficult to put all the pieces together to improve" added Watanabe, aware that it will take time for Honda to fully recover from the crisis.