Marquez Blames Covid For Hondas Demise

Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tyre. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T HONDAS FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

 

TBH.. I think political bias may play a part in how people read that article. I personally thought that the information felt logical. We see it in our business with the way people communicated on teams and remotely versus F2F, and more importantly how it changed peoples confidence levels etc.

Also, it's no secret that Ducati are probably spending 3-4 times the money even Honda are, that's the crux of the issue, Honda are going to need to spend twice the money they have been

 

No mention then that Honda did what they have always done and put their eggs in one basket? Relying on one rider and when he took himself out their results dropped off the cliff, then their reliance on him returning quickly, which he didn’t, prolonged their poor results?

If the Japanese teams were at a disadvantage against the European manufacturers due to Covid then why did 3 Japanese manufacturers riders finish in the top 3 in 2021 and 2 the following year?

 

Covid my arse, its all down to Brexit……..

 

Sorry I disagree, Honda are probably paying more than anyone else here and have been for decades, you could argue that all they have to do is pay MM his 25M Euro salary and negate any bike development, which would have worked if it wasn't for his shoulder.

Ducati's advantage is having 8 bikes on the grid, 8 data streams that they have access to, at least double any other manufacturer on the grid. The other manufacturers could have done the same lets not forget but they chose not to.

 

Nonsense. Currently Ducati are throwing Audi money at championships. Honda may have used to have the largest, but Ducati have taken over. Everyone knows this.

Kawasaki gone, Suzuki going. How long till Yamaha and Honda realise that ICE is probably the wrong avenue and also decide to invest elsewhere? Its the way the world is leaning.

Its pay to win now and whilst this has always been the case in racing, its all getting a bit daft. Like Football. Ive totally given up on football. I dont bother with it anymore. Hence I support QotS and we're terrible but its honest football.

I dont support brands, I support riders and all I am interested in is good racing between riders and great battles. I honestly dont care about the tech that much. The best racing is in Moto3. I also enjoy the SS300's. BSB is also good fun.

As soon as the manufacturer becomes the most important factor, racing dies. It should be about the rider. Not the machine. In a kind of 70/30 ish split maybe.

I used to see Honda as the bogeyman in racing, now I see it as Ducati.

 

I wholeheartedly agree.

I give MOTD a passing glance nowadays and that is it. Lower league football might be lower quality but like you say it's honest.

I think across all bike racing at high level there needs to be some levelling up on expenditure, rider/bike weight, etc.

 

Totally agree with the football bit. I struggle to maintain interest in top flight football nowadays. Ok, ok, I'm a Leeds fan.... The pinnacle of a footballers career used to be the pride associated with pulling on your country's jersey. That's long gone... Nowadays it's all about 250k a week, having a 'correct' media personality and L'Oreal fucking hair gel

Mind you, this isn't a million miles from a MotoGP paddock either....

In fact, fuck it. I'm getting a season ticket for Donny Rovers and I'll watch bike racing at Olivers Mount. Preferably in the pissing rain....

 

From what I understand ducatis budget is bigger than anyone else’s and has been for a long time and by a fair chunk.

same in wsbk.

HRC is a pretty surprisingly small outfit

 

This is an interesting read, perhaps esp for those who might still think of Honda as the corporate evil empire:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/...ogps-leading-team-closes-its-doors-to-critics

 

Fuck Ducati Corp. Another reason I dislike them as a company. Theyre the boogeyman. Plus, I like Jack and he has been treated unfairly. I'dve dumped Peco for Enea and kept Jack. Peco is 3rd in that group for me. Although I'd prob chosen Jorge for the seat above Enea. But Enea and Jorge wouldve been my choice and Jack and Peco in the Pramac.

 

Repsol Honda rider Marquez spoke about how Japanese manufacturers have fallen behind European counterparts: “The pandemic affected our sport and, once it has passed, it has been seen that the Asian factories as Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki have been more affected than others.
“I think it has hurt them even more especially because in 2020 and 2021 most of the championship was done at European circuits.
“Then all the Asian engineers came to live in Europe, but they were no longer in the factory. A lot of communication and level of work went down a bit, although it's no excuse because at the end of the day you are in a world championship and you have to know how to adapt to changes as well, otherwise you are overtaken, and in this case, maybe because of protocol and everything that went with it, there were bigger forces that they couldn't adapt to.
“In this case Honda has worked and right now they are still working because normality has returned in their country.

I believe these are reasonable points...

 

Brexit my foot , it’s all those twits in Brussels

 

People seem to irrationally hate Pecco for some reason. Martin has done nothing really for all his mouthing off on what is a current 2022 spec bike. Bagnaia has won more races than Miller, Bastianini and Martin combined, and Bastianini on an older bike is doing better than Martin who seems amazing at throwing in fast laps inconsistently but not doing much with this in races. He 100% doesn't deserve the factory team seat at the moment.

 

A lot of race fans are barmy saddo’s. Like those who boo racers on the podium. Wtf is that all about??

 

I dont dislike Pecco. I just dont rate him as high as I do Enea or Jorge. But if he does win this year, I will have to recalculate.

 

Its about a very distasteful legacy left by Rossi who should of spoken up about it but decided not to. Now the sheep do it all the time as its acceptable.