One of the most esteemed Japanese riders in motorcycle racing between the 1990s and the mid-2000s was Nobuatsu Aoki, who still keeps an eye on MotoGP these days.
The former rider commented on the current situation in an interview with Motosan.es, and regarding Honda’s competitive decline, he stated: ‘When Marc [Márquez] and Dani Pedrosa shared the garage, Marc had a good bike, so to speak, a type A, and Dani had a type B. Marc could compete, could win, while Dani, although very talented, would lose. The problem is they won many championships like this. Honda focused on one rider, but when things got complicated, nobody was able to achieve good results’.
Aoki also compared MotoGP from his time to the present: ‘I’m speaking as a spectator; perhaps I prefer the previous style, without so many things. As a racing driver, you know that if you are much faster, it’s because you are the best. You want to be the best and the fastest possible to win races’.