"Shocking" is how I would've described Honda's decision not to bring a new MotoGP to the Barcelona tests if it had happened in 2019. But when I heard the news yesterday, I just shook my head silently in sorrowful belief. I've had bated breath trying not to think about the possibility of Honda leaving MotoGP, but today, I feel I couldn't care less about the manufacturer because of what it's doing to its riders.
This has to be the worst time in the history of the modern era to be a Honda MotoGP rider.
These are the best riders in the world, hell, Joan Mir won the World Championship just four years ago. Now, he doesn't have a prototype bike to test for next year and is resigned to retesting parts he's tested multiple times throughout the year.
"The reality is that I didn't have a lot of things to test, I had already tested everything before. I've done 70 laps with things I've tested at least twice.”, said Mir.
Save for Yamaha, Honda has more concessions to help develop its bike than any other manufacturer on the grid. For example, while Ducati has just 170 tires to use for testing throughout the season, Honda gets 260, 70 of which Mir just burned on essentially nothing. Although one of Honda's other concessions is the allowance to test at any circuit, testing its 2025 bike at Barcelona right after racing there on the 2024 model provides invaluable information with regard to direct comparisons.
So why on earth would Honda waste this opportunity? Well, according to HRC boss Alberto Puig, there was a valid reason as to why there was no new bike or parts to evaluate: "As we have done so many tests during the year, it didn't make sense to bring the prototype here. During the year we have been trying many things, and it didn't make sense to bring a 'black' bike here, when we have had a 'black' bike for a large part of the year."
Right, so it'd seem like the manufacturer that finished dead last in the constructor's Championship developed a bike throughout the year that's so good it didn't need to bring it to Barcelona to test. Amazing. Literally unbelievable.
But Puig also stated, "We had three important things to test, which we have been testing during the year, but we do not have a prototype as such,"
So, from this, it would seem that rather than it not making sense to bring the prototype, there's just no prototype. And to make things even clearer—as clear as mud—here's one final quote from Puig to DAZN, "The 2025 prototype is built when you have something that fits you,"
I'll eat my words if Honda enters the 2025 championship with a dinger of a bike, but until then, the way it's treating its riders is an absolute disgrace—wasting time and talent. The question on my and fans' lips is, what is the big plan?
Is this Honda quietly resigning and only competing in 2025 to fulfill obligations to sponsors and riders? Or has the manufacturer with the most GP wins and constructors Championships given up on this era of MotoGP machinery and instead decided to focus its time and money on developing a bike to compete under the new ruleset in 2027?
Or, am I so, so off, and Honda is about to pull the 180 of the century? Doubtful, but I'd love to see it. What I'd love even more, though is to hear what you all think Honda is up to.
