Lucio Cecchinello knows like few others the reality of Honda in MotoGP, and after calling the manufacturer’s decline in MotoGP in recent years the result of a ‘perfect storm’, and the rider’s injury absence, development was virtually frozen.
The LCR boss had recalled, in words to GPOne, how until 2020 Honda dominated the world championship, largely thanks to the talent of Marc Márquez and a development philosophy focused on small evolutions of a winning bike. However, this approach, which suited Márquez’s aggressive riding style, began to cause difficulties for other riders with different riding styles.
From 2022, Honda opted for a radical change in the bike’s design philosophy, seeking to adapt to the new demands of the category. This change, although necessary, was not enough to reverse the situation. The bike, designed for Márquez’s riding style, became increasingly difficult to ride for other riders, which contributed to the team’s decline.
Cecchinello recalled how the RC213V in the #93’s hands still performed well, and above all his ability to avoid crashes: ‘The bike with Marc was fine, he was managing the bigger load at the front using a harder tire than the others, in fact with [Cal] Crutchlow we followed the same path. The number of crashes we made was quite important, while he was sometimes able to save with his elbow’.
And he recalled a shared race in Spain: ‘For example, at the start of the 2020 season in Jerez he was lapping everyone, then he lost the front and after getting back on the bike he made a great recovery. Then Honda said to wait until Marc was healed, as we know instead he had complications’.
This absence was decisive in the delay that was to be confirmed: ‘During Marc’s absence we didn’t do anything in terms of evolution while the others continued to evolve their projects. The work was starting to move much more towards aerodynamics, and in 2021 when Marc did some races he reported on the step forward made by the others’.