Honda must find another half a second during the winter break in order to be competitive in MotoGP next year, according to factory rider Luca Marini.
The Japanese manufacturer endured another disastrous campaign in MotoGP this year with the troublesome RC213V, ending up at the bottom of the standings behind Yamaha.
A clear uptrend in performance was visible from the Misano test in September, allowing LCR rider Johann Zarco to bag its first top 10 finishes in Indonesia and Thailand.
However, Marini is aware that Honda still faces a long road to recovery and it must continue to work hard in the off-season to close the gap to its rivals in 2025.
“If we have to check the performance, the development of the bike compared to [the Catalan GP in] May and here [in Barcelona GP], I think that we made a good step forward,” he said.
“For sure it's still not enough. But the bike is working well, the riders have improved and we are in a very good trend.
“We have to keep working and gain another half a second from here to Sepang.”
The Italian, who joined HRC at the start of 2024 on a two-year contract, reiterated that Honda has the potential to be the second best-manufacturer in MotoGP behind the dominant Ducati.
“I’m satisfied [with the progress],” he reflected. “We started with [a deficit of] 1.8s per lap in some races. Now we are at one second per lap.
“Still it's a long way. Arriving at the level of Ducati is maybe not possible, but the target is to beat all the manufacturers at the moment and then we will try to think also about beating Ducati.”
Both Honda and Yamaha were able to enjoy increased freedom with regards to testing and bike development thanks to a revamped concession system introduced by MotoGP.
Marini’s team-mate Joan Mir, however, previously stated that Honda gained nothing in the short-term from these concessions - and any impact would not be visible until 2025.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, meanwhile, felt that the Iwata-based brand was able to make good use of the system, as it frequently brought new parts to the M1.
Asked to compare the 2024 campaigns of Honda and Yamaha, Marini said his team was able to find bigger gains over the season, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap to its homegrown rival.
“We were always a step behind [Yamaha] because they started from a much higher point than us,” the 27-year-old explained.
“We gained a lot, we reduced the gap, but [we were] still not the same level of them.
“Also they developed the bike during the season. They were not stuck and they kept working a lot during the season, their bike has improved like our bike.
“We made more improvements than Yamaha, but they started from a better point than us, especially with Quartararo, who knows Yamaha very well and is able to bring the bike to the limit.
“He is sweet-perfect in his riding style and he has much more knowledge of the bike and for this [reason] also his performance is better than us most of the times.”
