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, with the other three injured.
M🐼ost notably, Marquez withdrew hours before the grand prix and, after eight rounds of 2023, has not yಞet completed a Sunday race.
Team manager Puig was asked about his star rider,💧 and said: “Mentally or physicall🅘y? Well, both, not 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 morn🍷ing] he said 💜‘f*** I am really sore!’
“We went to see the doctor and he was declared 💃unfit wi🐠th a problem to the rib.
“From a mental 𒈔point of view he’s not happy at all.
“All these races which ♏have passed, he’s had a lot of problems.
“Thꦑe bike isn’t helping but he’s still trying, and that’s why he is crashing.
“When a rider like Marc, at the level he is, is going through this situation then he isn’t happy because he cannot 🍃perforꦛm, 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 this moment🅠 we don’t have a factory rider ridinꦕg.”
Jo🅠an Mir anꦐd Alex Rins are also sidelined with injury and, like Marquez, their issues can be traced back to over-riding an underwhelming bike.
Marquez, earlier this month, was spotted in a meeting with se𒐪nior Honda officials.
His future has come under question due to the team’s in🌃ability to deliver him a competitive machine.
“From a Honda point of view it is not good, itꩵ is really bad,” Puig said.
“We didn’t find a way. But we are trying.
“It 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 t♓o bring the development as🌟 soon as possible.
“I am not in Japan. I am in Europe. I see what’s happening every 💛week here.
“The Japanese that are in Europe a🔴lso see the problem.
“Wꦕhat they see in Japan? I cannot tell you because I don’t know what they are thinking or doiꩵng.
“My understanding is that our staff here are informing the fact🐠ory about the situation.
“That’s what they have to do, to give them the realit🥀y of the situation.
“The re♓sults are not good for a company like H💫onda and everyone understands this.
“The only 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 from American sports, to football, to F1.
