State of decline at Honda “really bad, Marc Marquez not happy”
Another woeful weekend elapsed at the Dutch MotoGP with just one of Honda’s four riders actually competing, wi🦩th the other three injured.
Most notably, Marquez withdrew hours before th𝕴e grand prix and, after eight rounds of 2023, has not yet completed a Sunday𒁃 race.
Team manager Puig was asked about his star rꦯider, and said: “Mentally or physically? Well, both, not𝓰 too good.
“Physically he is clearly in pain. All the crashes in🧸 Germany affected him. He came here with a will to race, but over the weekend it got worse and worse.
“[Sunday morning] he said ‘f*** I am really s⛦ore!’
“We went to see the doctor and he was declared unfiꦡt with a problem t𓆉o the rib.
“From a mental poi𒉰nt of view he’s not happy at all.
“All these races which have passed, he’s had a𝓰 lot of probl💟ems.
“The bike isn’t h෴elping but he’s still trying, and that’s why he is crashing.
“When a rider like Marc, a🧸t the level he is, is going through this situation then he isn’t happy because he cannot perform, cannot deliver results.
“Finally, you are down. This is the situation.
“He has clearly expressed his feelings.
“This is not good at all. It’s clearly bad.
“We’d like to have both riders.
“At ജthis moment we do🥀n’t have a factory rider riding.”
Joan Mir and Alex Rins are also sidelined with injury and, like Marquez, their issues can be traced back to🐲 over-riding an underwhelming bike.
Marquez, earli𝐆er this month, was spotted in a meeting with senior Honda offic♈ials.
His futur💝e has come under question due to the team’s inability to deliver him a c𒅌ompetitive machine.
“From a Ho🐬nda point of view it is not goo⛄d, it is really bad,” Puig said.
“We didn’t find a way. But we are trying.
“I♋t is true that we need to speed up the situation because we have to recover a lot of ground.
🍸“We need to deliver a bike to the riders which is more friendly with more performance.
“That’s what they are doing in Japan and we are pushing them to bring the devel𓄧opment as soon as possible.
“I am not in Japan. I a𝓰m in Europe. I see what’s happening every week here.
“The Japa༒nese that are in Europe also see the problem.
“What they see in Japan? I cannot tell you because I don’t know what🔯 they are thinking or doing.
“My understanding💦 is that our staff here are iꦗnforming the factory about the situation.
“That’s what they have to do, to give them the reality of the situatiꦬon.
“The re꧟sults are not good for a company like Honda and everyone understands this.
“The oᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnly thing we have in mind? We are not resting. We are trying to get back to our normal position.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything fಌrom American sports, to football, to F1.
