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Honda is trying to get out of a crisis it’s been in for far too long. The Japanese giant has discovered that it has feet of clay, and it’s rebuilding its foundations. The work is long and demanding, but it seems to have found the right direction to follow. Team manager Alberto Puig is convinced of this. “The Sepang test was very interesting because we had to find a direction,” he explained during the team’s presentation in Madrid. “The riders saw the difference compared to Valencia. We still have many things to improve, but we also took interesting steps forward. We’ll try to take advantage of the concessions and return to those positions that belong to us.”
The RC213V was no longer at the level of the best competition, so the Japanese engineers rolled up their sleeves.
“We redesigned everything. Decreasing weight and increasing power was important,” Puig continued. “In racing, you can never be content. You always have to improve. This applies to both the riders and the engineers. But we’re happy to have two young riders, and there’s a lot of desire to improve.”
Puig then went into more detail.
“The bike has changed a lot,” he said. “For example, to lose weight, you have to redesign many parts, and a great job has been done in a short time. From an engine viewpoint, we’ve redesigned a lot of internal parts, and that’s harder than redoing everything from scratch. During the season, we’ll continue to develop the bike. In September, it’ll probably be very different from how it is today.”
The problem is that time always plays against them, and everyone expects to see results quickly.
“We’re coming from the bottom. In recent years, it hasn’t gone well, and now we’ve laid down the foundations to recuperate,” the team manager stressed. “We hope to reduce the disadvantage in the first part of the season, and it would be nice to think that, after the summer, Joan and Luca will at least get the chance to fight for the podium, for a win. That’s our goal.”
Lastly, everyone wants to know about Marquez. Could the champion return to Honda if the bike becomes competitive? “I’m direct. I don’t know if Marc will come back,” Puig concluded.
