Honda has struggled over the last few years and it’s been the other manufacturers who have excelled, as happened with Suzuki in 2020 when Joan Mir – currently with Repsol Honda – won the title, or the following year when Fabio Quartararo became champion, before the Ducati began to take centre stage in MotoGP. Casey Stoner thinks that such a situation… is strange.
During the MotoGP round in his home country, Stoner spoke about the state of the manufacturer and apologised to the team: ‘Honda have been struggling for a couple of years. It’s easy to sit on the outside and say «the team haven’t been doing a good job, but it’s not actually the team. It goes way further above than that. We’re not sure how much effort they’re putting into the racing’.
In the australian’s opinion, some recent changes could be at the root of the problems, with this «delay» of the structure not singular to Honda, but to the japanese manufacturers, he recalled, since Yamaha is also in a less positive phase:
– I know there were a few position changes in Japan and it seems to be affecting the team.The two Japanese manufacturers seem to be a step or two behind. The European manufacturers got on top of everything a bit quicker, they’re ahead of the game. It’s puzzling that the Japanese manufacturers are equally behind the Europeans.